The researchers examine the relationship between a child’s gender and family
expenditures using data from the Polish Household Budget Survey. Having a first-born
daughter as compared with a first-born son increases the share of household expenditures
related to children’s and adult females’ clothing, but reduces spending on games, toys
and hobbies, and kindergarten. These expenditure patterns suggest an as-so-far
unexamined role of gender in child development: Parents seem to pay more attention to
how girls look, while favoring boys with respect to human capital investment. This could
have consequences in adult life and contribute to sustaining gender inequalities.