Understanding women's decision making power and its link to improved household sanitation: the case of Kenya

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitsuaki Hirai ◽  
Jay P. Graham ◽  
John Sandberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
Household Members ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
Independent Effects

Women experience many motivational drivers for improving sanitation, but it is unclear how women's role in household decision making affects whether a household opts for better sanitation. We analyzed the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/2009 with a representative sample of 4,556 married and cohabiting women to examine the association between women's decision making power in relation to that of partners and the type of sanitation facilities used by household members. The independent effects of respondents’ education, employment status, and socioeconomic status on the type of sanitation facilities were also explored. The direct measurement of women's ability to influence sanitation practice was not available. To address this problem, this study used proxy measures of women's decision making power in the household. The results of this study revealed that women's decision making power for major household purchases was positively associated with households having better sanitation (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that increased gender equity could potentially have spillover effects that result in more households opting to improve their sanitation conditions.

scholarly journals Covid-19, Rural Poverty, and Women’s Role in Decision-Making: Evidence from Khatlon Province in Tajikistan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamiljon Akramov ◽  
Lucia Carrillo ◽  
Katrina Kosec
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Phone Survey ◽  
Women’S Perceptions ◽  
Household Members ◽  
Women's Role

The covid-19 pandemic has had devastating effects globally; it has caused health crises and economic recessions, leading unemployment to spike and disrupting food systems and supply chains. In the heavily remittance-dependent context of Tajikistan, however, migration has continued – and appears to have become increasingly dominated by men. In this context, what has happened to women’s perceptions of economic prospects, as well as the well-being of their households? How has women’s involvement in decision-making evolved? And to what extent do out-migration or in-migration of household members predict changes in women’s decision-making power? We consider these questions using a September – October 2020 phone survey deployed in Khatlon province, Tajikistan that successfully tracked 87% of households that had been surveyed in person in 2018. We find that both genders have similar expectations for their agricultural production (harvests), but women are slightly more likely to identify concerns with rising prices and a lack of access to financial services. Overall, we find little in the way of evidence that women’s involvement in intra-household decision-making declined as a result of the pandemic—though this is from a low base. However, we find that women are less likely than are men to report improvements in women’s decision-making authority. Further, we find that out-migration of household members, which is dominated by men, is associated with improvements in women’s decision-making power, particularly with respect to decisions about how to spend household income. Overall, our results point to the need for additional analyses of the gendered impacts of shocks on women in the Central Asia region.

scholarly journals Employment Empowering Women: An Experience of Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-134
Author(s):  
Bandana Kumari Jain
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Employment Status ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Wife Beating ◽  
Women's Employment ◽  
Women’S Employment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
The Relationship

The study aims to examine the association between employment and the empowerment of Nepali currently married women. It harnesses women’s employment status and their empowerment; in terms of ‘household decision making’, ‘attitudes towards wife-beating’, and ownership of the house/land’ with the help of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 data set. Married women’s employment exhibits a significant association (0.05) with their socio-demographic characteristics, and empowerment variables as well. The employment status of married women influences their household decision-making, and attitudes towards wife-beating. The study adheres to the belief that employment accelerates women’s empowerment, still, it is complex to determine the strength of the relationship in between. Thus, based on the findings of the study, other variables and empowerment indicators are to be considered and analyzed further for concrete insights. So, employment cannot be assumed as a mere engine and an only instrument for empowering women.

Tapping Rural Women Entrepreneurship Through Self-Help Micro-Credit

2019 ◽  
pp. 305-339
Author(s):  
Falendra Kumar Sudan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Livelihood Diversification ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Women's Role ◽  
And Control

The chapter reveals that women's role in enterprise and household decision making, their access to assets, and control over self-earnings have improved significantly among client and non-client groups. Self-help credit program (SHCP) has facilitated them to make decisions for their personal needs, availing treatment, recreational facilities, and participate independently in household decision making. However, SHCP should incorporate necessary steps to enhance empowerment of women irrespective of their duration in program, types of economic activities, and marital status. In order to transform SHCP into a genuine livelihood diversification and gender strategy, women's empowerment needs to be understood as more than a marginal increase in access to income, and/or consultation in limited areas of enterprise and household decision making and/or occasional meetings with a small group of other women.

scholarly journals Moving up the sanitation ladder: latrine promotion and household decision-making in Viet Nam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Thomas ◽  
Per Ljung
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Mekong Delta ◽  
Septic Tank ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Septic Tanks ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Before And After

Abstract We examine the relationship between promotion activities and sanitation decisions in the context of a program in the Mekong Delta that encouraged households to switch from fishpond latrines to septic tanks. Before and after the campaign, we surveyed households and promoters. Economic variables were important determinants of septic tank adoption, but whether or not the decision was woman-led and familiarity with the promoter were strongly predictive as well. Controlling for the pre-existing household decision-making structure, women were more likely to lead the sanitation decision if a promoter spoke to them rather than a male householder. Our household-based findings on the importance of promoters were supported by a supplementary analysis of sales. We found that promoters who were older, trained, and educated were more successful in selling septic tanks. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of gender equity and trust in the promoter for encouraging last-mile households to invest in new health technologies.

scholarly journals Effect of Women’s Role on Household Decision Making on Institutional Delivery of the recent Child in Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Ramesh Adhikari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Institutional Delivery ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Multivariate Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Maternal Health Services ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
The Family ◽  
Women's Role

Nepalese women are behind than men in many areas, such as educational attainment, participation in decision-making and health service utilization, all of which have an impact on reproductive health outcomes. This paper explores effect of women's role on household decision making on institutional delivery of the child in Nepal Data as drawn from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2011. The analysis is confined to women who had given birth in the five years preceding the survey (n=4,148). The net effect of women’s role on household decision making on institutional delivery after controlling for the effect of other predictors has been measured through multivariate logistic regression analysis. The findings indicate that institutional delivery was still very low in Nepal. Only two in five of the women (40%) had delivered their last child with health facilities. Notably, higher level of women’s role on household decision was associated with higher level of institutional delivery [adjusted odds ratio (aOR=1.20)] than their comparison group. It can be concluded that programs should aim to increase use of maternal health services by improving women’s role on household decision making so that the overall well-being of the family can be maintained and enhanced.

scholarly journals Older adults’ psychological and subjective well-being as a function of household decision making role: Evidence from cross-sectional survey in India

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 100676
Author(s):  
Shobhit Srivastava ◽  
Shekhar Chauhan ◽  
T. Muhammad ◽  
David Jean Simon ◽  
Pradeep Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Decision Making

Working Women’s Decision-Making Power at Home: Evidence from Four North Indian Urban Clusters

Urbanisation ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 245574712110258
Author(s):  
Megan Maxwell ◽  
Milan Vaishnav
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Working Women ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Foundations ◽  
Shed Light

Do working women enjoy greater levels of human agency? While the theoretical foundations underlying this connection are clear, the empirical evidence is quite mixed. We leverage detailed, new data on intra-household decision-making and labour market behaviour from four north Indian urban clusters to shed light on this question. We find that women who work exercise greater say in important decisions around the home. However, this ‘work advantage’ exhibits significant heterogeneity across decision types, decision-making domains, and definitions of work.

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