Gender Disparity in Eldercare Provision in China: Evidence from CHARLS

Xinxin Chen, Peking University

In this paper we examine whether the traditional gender disparity in eldercare provision has been reshaped by radical economic and social change in China using 2011 and 2013 wave of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) which contains detailed care-giving and family information. We describe the current care source for elder parents who are in need of care in China, examine the job division between daughters and sons and look at whether there is any difference between sons and daughters in terms of the impact of caring their parents on their labor force participation. Such research has not been possible before. We find that in accordance with the Chinese tradition, sons are the dominant care-giver but daughters are increasingly important, and there is a big gender disparity between sons and daughters in terms of the impact of caring their parents on the labor force participation.