It Takes Two (To Make Things Right) : Women's Empowerment and Couple Concordance in South Asia
This paper empirically assesses the relevance of women’s agency for family health and domestic violence outcomes in South Asia. It discerns three forms of agency by considering how decisions are taken within the household and highlights differences...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/461541613499825913/It-Takes-Two-To-Make-Things-Right-Womens-Empowerment-and-Couple-Concordance-in-South-Asia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35141 |
| Summary: | This paper empirically assesses the
relevance of women’s agency for family health and domestic
violence outcomes in South Asia. It discerns three forms of
agency by considering how decisions are taken within the
household and highlights differences in the intensity of the
correlation between these forms of agency and household
members’ well-being. Decision-making reports are matched by
both spouses and classified as: (i) the wife participates in
decisions, and both husband and wife agree about her role;
(ii) the wife reports participating in decisions, but the
husband does not recognize her role, that is, she takes
power; and (iii) the husband reports that the wife
participates in decisions, but the wife does not, that is,
he gives power. Using cross-sectional data from six South
Asian countries, the paper finds that the association
between all forms of women’s agency and the health of their
children is statistically significant and economically
meaningful. In the cases of being underweight, used prenatal
help, and modern use of contraception, and especially in the
case of domestic violence, the spousal agreement variant of
women’s agency has stronger beneficial correlations
vis-à-vis the taking power or giving power variants. The
paper emphasizes the importance of spousal support and the
contextual component of women’s agency in South Asia, where
social norms mediate women’s decision making and outcomes. |
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