We study intergenerational educational mobility for men and women across South Asia, using 30 harmonized living standards surveys covering cohorts born since 1980. We describe a new stylized fact: upward mobility in South Asia is higher in cities, and the urban mobility premium is substantially higher for women than for men. In the majority of subnational regions, women in cities have higher upward mobility than men, in addition to a larger urban-rural gap. Evidence is consistent with higher returns to education for women in cities and less patriarchal social norms as mechanisms. By contrast, higher consumption and income levels in cities have little explanatory power for the female urban mobility advantage. The advantage is largest where gender norms are more conservative among high-income people; in these places, new female-friendly jobs may be more accessible to lower-class women.
The Female Urban Mobility Advantage
- Aditi Bhowmick
- Paul Novosad
- Sam Asher
- Sara Sethia
- Jonah Rexer
- Maurizio Bussolo