Early Marriage, Social Networks and the Transmission of Norms

We investigate whether female early marriage is a conduit for the transmission of social norms, specifically norms relating to gender roles and rights within the household. We exploit differences in age at menarche between sisters as an exogenous source of variation in marriage age. This approach allows us to control for beliefs and attitudes that are transmitted from parents to children. Using a sample of unmarried adolescents, we first show that the timing of menarche has no direct effect on adolescent attitudes towards gender norms. Yet we find that early marriage increases agreement with statements supportive of traditional gender roles and gender bias in the allocation of resources. We also find some evidence that early marriage worsens the (self-reported) quality of a woman's post-marital social network.