Gender Bias, Credit Constraints and Time Allocation in Rural India

Using the intertemporal model of intrahousehold resource allocation, the paper examines the impact of a child's gender on time allocation of rural Indian households. It tests for the presence of credit constraints by examining the effect of the birth of a son relative to a daughter on household time allocation.

Households from three villages (Aurepalle, Shirapur and Kanzara) in rural India that formed the sample for the study were divided into two: the landless and the small farmers, and the medium and large farmers. Findings indicate that:

• The former faces binding constraints in the credit market, while the latter does not;
• Interpretation of the increase in female leisure in response to the gender shock differs substantially for the two subsamples due to the finding of binding credit constraints for one, but not for the other.