Married Women's Employment and Family Income Inequality
Amin, Shahina
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/85608
Description
Title
Married Women's Employment and Family Income Inequality
Author(s)
Amin, Shahina
Issue Date
1997
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Blau, Francine D.
Department of Study
Economics
Discipline
Economics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Women's Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
This study examines the impact married women's employment and earnings have on family income inequality in one developing country, Malaysia. Using the first and second waves of the Malaysian Family Life Surveys, this study finds, first, that married women's employment has increased from 1976 to 1988. Second, married women's employment increased for all income classes. Third, the mean annual income of the wives of low income husbands has increased the most but the mean annual income of the wives whose husbands are in the top income classes continued to be disproportionately high. This would contribute to increase family income inequality. But, despite the presence of positive assortative mating between Malaysian couples, the relatively high inequality of wives' earnings and the positive correlation between spouses' earnings, the data suggest that married women's earnings equalize family income inequality both in 1979 and in 1988. The magnitude of the equalizing effect of women's earnings decreased in 1988 for rural women and increased for urban women. Our econometric analysis reinforces the results from the descriptive analysis. It finds that the wives are more responsive to their own wage effect than to their husbands' earnings. Although the wives' employment and husbands' earnings are negatively related, the negative impact is decreasing. Our analysis from the longitudinal study finds similar results. In addition, it finds that young wives' earnings tend to increase the magnitude of the equalizing effect in rural areas while it decreases the magnitude of the equalizing effect in the urban areas.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
