Womens Participation in Household Decisionmaking

December 29, 2011

Introduction
Empowerment
Process Power to achieve goals and ends Awareness of rights and entitlements More generally applicable to the powerless

Sources, settings and evidence

Data and methods

National Family Health Survey, 2005-2006 -nationally representative -109,041 households, 124,385 women aged 15 to 49 and 74,000 men aged 15 to 59. -household characteristics, demography, health, domestic violence, indicators of empowerment - HIV, unmarried men and women Sample of 93,089 currently married women Bivariate and multivariate analysis

Aspects of household decision making

Decision making within households - own health care - major household purchases - purchases for daily household needs - visits to womens family or relatives Alone, with husband or partner, with someone else, husband or partner alone, other

Previous study
23 countries Most likely to make decisions about daily household purchases and own health care alone Most likely to make decisions about major household purchases and visits to family and friends jointly Age and employment for cash

Household decisionmaking
Only 37% participate in all 4 decisions Only one decision which majority of women make alone
Own health care Respondent alone Respondent and husband/partner Husband/partner alone Respondent and someone else Other 27.12 35.12 30.11 6.32 1.25 Making Making household major purchases Visits to household for daily family or purchases needs relatives 8.49 44.43 32.24 12.04 2.80 32.43 27.69 24.75 12.34 2.78 10.72 49.81 26.83 10.40 2.24

Participation across states

Higher participation in all decisions
NE (except Tripura) Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa

Jammu and Kashmir Chhatisgarh Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Karnataka Bihar West Bengal Tripura Uttaranchal Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Orissa Himachal Pradesh Goa Maharashtra Arunachal Pradesh Haryana Tamil Nadu Delhi Kerala Punjab Sikkim Assam Manipur Meghalaya Nagaland Mizoram India

Participation in decision making Own Major Purchases Visits to health household for daily family and care purchases needs relatives 43.48 44.93 47.04 43.48 47.86 50.83 63.36 61.15 51.68 48.32 54.91 50.18 51.93 40.49 49.22 44.00 53.32 50.53 56.44 55.92 53.39 50.63 58.42 54.41 59.64 37.46 46.88 48.43 59.76 48.19 57.06 60.54 60.83 49.50 56.47 56.05 61.18 59.79 64.72 65.51 61.93 52.77 60.53 65.56 63.34 53.36 66.36 70.56 64.28 53.01 55.62 50.40 64.81 57.85 61.34 63.68 66.67 56.52 61.59 58.33 67.80 67.80 74.58 84.75 67.88 61.23 70.68 74.26 68.60 74.42 87.06 90.70 71.76 54.69 60.86 69.17 73.23 63.29 77.77 76.71 74.15 67.28 75.68 74.90 75.34 61.78 65.87 78.41 76.83 48.20 56.51 68.47 79.59 76.00 78.00 83.67 80.09 72.15 70.12 81.07 87.58 81.37 85.09 86.25 87.91 82.97 84.62 87.85 90.82 81.82 86.87 93.88 92.06 79.69 85.94 89.06 62.29 52.92 60.12 60.53

Important dimensions of womens lives affecting their status Age, children, age at marriage Education and employment Exposure to media Economic class

Factors associated with womens participation in household decision making

Women's participation in household decision making

Own health care Age Number of children Education level Employment for cash Exposure to media Age at marriage Spousal age gap Husband is coresident Residence is urban Wealth Index Major Purchases household for daily purchases needs Visits to family and relatives

+ + + + + + + + +

+ + + + + + + + -

+ + + + + + + + -

+ + + + + + +
NS

+
NS

Possible interventions

Literacy and awareness Age at marriage Health Education Employment

Health Indicators Maternal health care

Deliveries assisted by health personnel

ANC

Full ANC

Institutional deliveries

AP KA KE TN India

85.4 79.5 93.6 95.9 43.9

28.2 29.6 63.6 34.0 15.0

64.4 64.7 99.3 87.8 38.7

74.9 69.7 99.4 90.6 46.6

Health Indicators Child mortality

Neonatal mortality AP KA KE TN India 40.3 28.9 11.5 19.1 39.7 Infant mortality 53.5 43.2 15.2 30.4 57.0 Under five mortality 63.2 54.7 16.3 35.5 74.3

Data are from the NFHS 2005 -2006

Health Indicators Nutritional status

Women BMI < 18.5 AP KA KE TN India 33.5 35.5 18.0 28.4 35.6 Anemia 62.9 51.5 32.8 53.2 55.3 Children Anemia 70.8 70.4 44.5 64.2 69.5

Data are from the NFHS 2005-2006

Social Indicators Sex ratio, 2001

Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu India

Census 2001

978 per 1000 males 964 per 1000 males 1058 per 1000 males 986 per 1000 males 933 per 1000 males

Social Indicators Effective literacy rates 2001

Male Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu India 70.85 76.29 94.20 82.30 75.85 Female 51.17 57.45 87.86 64.55 54.16