ESRI Discussion Paper Series No.402 Education or Caregiving? The Role of Parental Gender Preferences in Child Educational Investment

Jun Takahashi

Graduate School of International Management, Yokohama City University

Yoshiyuki Nakazono

Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office

Graduate School of International Management, Yokohama City University

Abstract

This study examines how parents' pre-birth gender preferences influence their educational investment decisions. Using longitudinal survey data, we analyze whether parents' stated gender preference before the birth of their first child affects actual spending on education and school selection. We observe parental gender preferences aligned with their own gender: mothers prefer daughters, whereas fathers prefer sons. Our estimation results reveal that pre-birth gender preferences have a stronger impact on parental investment decisions than the child's actual gender. Parents who initially preferred a son allocate significantly more resources to their child's education, whereas those who preferred a daughter systematically invest less, regardless of the child's eventual gender. To uncover the underlying mechanism, we explore the role of caregiving expectations in shaping gender preferences. Our results suggest that mothers who provide or expect to provide elderly care are more likely to prefer daughters, reinforcing traditional gender roles in caregiving. This expectation may contribute to lower educational investment in daughters, as they are perceived more as future caregivers than as primary economic providers.