ABSTRACT

One direct indicator of the relative status of women and men can be found in a comparison of their survival prospects. Since adult occupational roles influence mortality risks, childhood sex-specific survival differences are perhaps a better indicator of male and female status within the family. Biological differences between the sexes may explain the level and age structure of childhood mortality differences by sex, but variation across regions and across households in a society should reflect more clearly the intra-family allocation of investments towards child survival. The hypothesis examined here is that in those regions and households where women are likely to play an economically more active role, the family has a stronger incentive to invest in girls to assure their survival.