Early-Life exposure to rainfall shocks and gender gaps in employment: Findings from Vietnam

Abstract Despite the achievement of gender equity in education in many developing countries, a gender gap still exists with respect to formal employment. Through inhibiting women's empowerment and reducing the supply and productivity of labour, this gap results in poorer development outcomes. This paper examines whether exogenous rainfall shocks experienced in early life explain variations in future formal sector employment outcomes. It does so for Vietnam, a country that is highly vulnerable to rainfall shocks. The paper employs data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey and rainfall data from the Gridded Monthly Time Series Dataset. Findings suggest that rainfall shocks experienced early in life have a long temporal reach by reducing the probability of formal sector employment for women but not for men. Other findings indicate that the gendered impact of rainfall shocks operates through differential effects on educational attainment and that shocks occurring in the first and second year of life are most important.