"Data and Code for: Convincing the Mummy-ji: Improving Mother-in-Law Approval of Family Planning in India"

Mothers-in-law, especially those in South Asia, can exert significant influence over women, often even more so than women’s husbands or other household members. Using data from rural India, we first show that mothers-in-law are more likely than husbands to a) disapprove of women’s family planning use; and b) want women to have more children, particularly sons, than what women themselves want. Next, using a field experiment, we show that providing women with vouchers for subsidized family planning services not only enabled them to initiate discussions about family planning with their mothers-in-law, but also increased their mothers-in-law’s approval of family planning. <b> </b> <b> </b>