The power of parents´aspiration - A project evaluation in rural India

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is whether women accessing education and credit affect her and her husband’s aspiration concerning their child’s future age of marriage, preferred occupation and educational attainment. By measuring the effect of a Self Help Group (SHG) project in Tamil Nadu, India, it is shown that microfinance+ does affect fathers’ aspiration for their children’s future age of marriage. Using one survey of 75 households having children (n~128) aged 6 to 16 years in 8 villages, it´s shown that the microfinance+ effect on "age parents’ wish their child to marry" increases by almost 3 years among fathers. The father’s own educational level increases the age he wishes his child to marry by little less than 4 months per year in school. Education appears to have a significant effect on parental aspiration, independently on how it is gained. No evidence was found between microfinance alone and parental aspiration. The result further shows a significantly decreased gender gap within the male dominated labor market. No clear evidence was found concerning changes in parental aspiration on educational attainment.