Are there gender differences in aspirations formation in rural Ethiopia?

This paper examines gender differences in aspirations formation (with respect to income, wealth, and children’s education) using survey data collected from sample households in rural Ethiopia. Results show evidence of upward looking income aspirations for both men and women, and upward looking wealth aspirations only for women, while the social effect of aspirations to children’s education appears to be weak for both sexes. Even though men (in general) appear to have higher aspirations than women, the differences in parameter estimates across gender are not statistically significant, suggesting that the gender-differentiated effect of social drivers on aspirations is limited. The results imply that policies and interventions that raise incomes in the village may increase income aspirations of both men and women, while efforts to enhance women’s wealth aspirations may be more effective if they improve wealth of women in the village. Since our sample is relatively small with limited geographic coverage, findings of this study could be context specific. Hence, further study using more recent and more representative data is necessary to draw fairly generalizable conclusions.