Abstract
This paper explores the causal link between couple’s household decision-making power and women’s labour market and economic outcomes. Autonomy refers to the condition of independence while decision-making power can be defined as one’s ability to make important decisions within the household. Autonomy and decision-making power are used interchangeably in this paper. Using the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and a series of probit, instrumental probit and multinomial logistic regression models, findings suggest that women who have lower autonomy in their households are less likely to be currently employed and even when they are employed, these women have higher odds of working in family businesses, which are typically associated with greater labour market vulnerability. These women are, however, more likely to own assets, a strategy likely aimed at improving their exit options. Interestingly, when men have relatively more power within the household, there are positive implications for women’s labour market outcomes—women are more likely to be currently employed and less likely to be unpaid workers in family businesses. An explanation for this may be found in the country’s high poverty levels and general economic hardships which necessitates the influx of additional resources into the household through women’s paid employment. Greater absolute and relative autonomy of male partners, however, reduce women’s asset ownership, likely because greater resource accumulation by women, beyond wage receipts, can be an indicator of dominance within the household, a position typically ascribed to men by cultural and patriarchal norms. These results suggest that relative perceptions of authority and autonomy in the household are important determinants of Nigerian women’s labour market behaviours and asset ownership, and the influences of male partners cannot, and should not, be underestimated.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In order for higher scores to be representative of male partners’ greater decision-making power, these scores were reversed for responses given by male partners.
References
Acharya, D. R., Bell, J. S., Simkhada, P., et al. (2010). Women’s autonomy in household decision-making: A demographic study in Nepal. Reproductive Health, 7, 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-7-15
Agi, C. (2014). Counselling married women on employment status and marital adjustment in Rivers State, Nigeria. International Journal of Academic Research, 6, 268–273. https://doi.org/10.7813/2075-4124.2014/6-2/B.40
Akintan, O. A. (2013). Powerful and powerless: Women in religion and culture in the traditional Ijebu Society. Journal of Social Science, 3(22), 57–64.
Akyeampong, E., & Fofack, H. (2013). The contribution of African women to economic growth and development in post-Colonial Africa: Historical perspectives and policy implications. Policy Research Working Paper; No. 6537. World Bank.
Anderson, S., & Eswaran, M. (2009). What determines female autonomy? Evidence from Bangladesh. Journal of Development Economics, 90(2), 179–191.
Anyawu, J. A. (2010). Poverty in Nigeria: A gendered analysis. African Statistical Journal, 11, 38–61.
Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Kinnan, C. (2015). The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1), 22–53.
Behrendt, A., & Moritz, S. (2005). Posttraumatic stress disorder and memory problems after female genital mutilation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1000–1002.
Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2011). Identity, morals, and taboos: Beliefs as assets. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(2), 805–855. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr002
Biljon, C., Fintel, D., & Pasha, A. (2018). Bargaining to work: the effect of female autonomy on female labour supply. Working Papers 04/2018. Stellenbosch University Department of Economics.
Blau, F. D., Ferber, M. A., & Winkler, A. E. (2014). The economics of women, men and work (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Brewster, K. L., & Padavic, I. (2000). Change in gender-ideology, 1977–1996:The contributions of intracohort change and population turnover. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 477–487. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00477.x
Christie-Mizell, C. A. (2006). The effects of traditional family and gender ideology on earnings: Race and gender differences. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 27, 48–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-005-9004-5
Corrigall, E. A., & Konrad, A. M. (2007). Gender role attitudes and careers: A longitudinal study. Sex Roles, 56, 847–855. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9242-0
Crepon, B., Devoto, F., Duflo, E., & William, P. (2015). Estimating the impact of microcredit on those who take it up: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Morocco. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(1), 123–150.
Dicke, A. L., Safavian, N., & Eccles, J. (2019). Traditional gender role beliefs and career attainment in STEM: A gendered story? Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01053
Dildar, Y. (2015). Patriarchal norms, religion, and female labor supply: Evidence from Turkey. World Development, 76, 40–61.
Egruwube, J. (2016). Challenges facing women empowerment in contemporary Nigeria. Gender Hub: Sharing knowledge for gender justice in Nigeria
Enfield, S. (2019). Gender Roles and Inequalities in the Nigerian Labour Market. K4D Helpdesk Report. Institute of Development Studies.
Field, E. M., Martinez, J., & Pande, R. P. (2016). Does women’s banking matter for women? Evidence from urban India. Technical Report S-35306-INC-1.
Fortin, M. N. (2015). Gender role attitudes and women’s labor market participation: Opting-Out, AIDS, and the persistent appeal of housewifery. Annals of Economics and Statistics, Number, 117/118, 379–401.
Heath, R., & Tan, X. (2020). Intrahousehold bargaining, female autonomy, and labor supply: Theory and evidence from India. Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, 18(4), 1928–1968.
ILO. (2018). Paid employment vs vulnerable employment. A brief study of employment patterns by status in employment. ILOSTAT-Spotlight on Work Statistics. ILO.
ILOSTAT: Employment to Population ratio. ILO Modelled estimates, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/ilostat/faces/oracle/webcenter/portalapp/pagehierarchy/Page3.
Klasen, S. (2002). Low schooling for girls, slower growth for all? Cross-country evidence on the effect of gender inequality in education on economic development. The World Bank Economic Review, 16(3), 345–373.
Kritz, M. M., & Adebusoye, P. M. (1999). Determinants of women’s decision-making authority in Nigeria: The ethnic dimension. Sociological Forum., 14, 399–424.
Lodin, J. B., Tegbaru, A., Bullock, R., Degrande, A., Nkengla, L. W., & Gaya, H. I. (2019). Gendered mobilities and immobilities: Women’s and men’s capacities for agricultural innovation in Kenya and Nigeria. Gender, Place & Culture, 26(12), 1759–1783. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2019.1618794
Luke, N. (2019). Gender and social mobility. Exploring gender attitudes and women’s labour force participation. WIDER Working Paper 2019/108
Lundberg, S., & Pollak, R. A. (1993). Separate spheres bargaining and the marriage market. Journal of Political Economy, 101(6), 988–1010.
Majlesi, K. (2016). Labor market opportunities and women’s decision making power within households. Journal of Development Economics, 119, 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.10.002
Makama, G. A. (2013). Patriarchy and gender inequality in Nigeria: The way forward. European Scientific Journal, 9, 17.
Manser, M., & Brown, M. (1980). Marriage and household decision-making: A bargaining analysis. International Economic Review, 21(1), 31–44.
McElroy, M. B., & Horney, M. J. (1981). Nash-bargained household decisions: Toward a generalization of the theory of demand. International Economic Review, 22(2), 333–349.
Miyata, S., & Yamata, H. (2016). Do female gender role attitudes affect labour market participation in Egypt? The Journal of Development Studies, 52(6), 876–894. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2015.1113262
National Population Commission (NPC) and ICF (2019). Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 2018. NPC and ICF
Oluwagbemiga E. A., Odusina, K. E. & Akintoye, A. E. (2016). Religion and labour force participation in Nigeria: Is there any inequality among women? African Journal of Reproductive Health. Retrieved from https://www.ajrh.info/index.php/ajrh/article/view/172/0
Omodjohwoefe, O. S. (2011). Gender roles differentiation and social mobility of women in Nigeria. Journal of Social Science, 27(1), 7–74.
Omokhodion, J. O. (2009). Linking the dominance of house chores: Girls in Nigerian house holds to the girl-child somatization pattern in Nigeria. Maxwell Scientific Org.
Panda, P., & Agarwal, B. (2005). Marital violence, human development and women’s property status in India. World Development, 33(5), 823–850.
Population Council. (2001). Power in sexual relationships: An opening dialogue among reproductive health professionals. Retrieved froom http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/power.pdf.
Prentice, D. A., & Carranza, E. (2002). What women and men should be, shouldn’t be, are allowed to be, and don’t have to be: The content of prescriptive gender stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 269–281.
Sathar, Z. A., & Shahnaz, K. (2000). Women’s autonomy in the context of rural Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 39, 89–110.
Woolley, F. (1988). a non-cooperative model of family decision making. Technical Report Discussion paper TIDI/125. London School of Economics.
World Bank. (2015). More, and more productive, jobs for Nigeria: A profile of work and workers. World Bank Group. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/650371467987906739/More-and-
World Bank. (2021). Poverty & Equity Brief, Africa Western & Central: Nigeria. Retrieved from https://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/poverty/987B9C90-CB9F-4D93-AE8C-750588BF00QA/AM2020/Global_POVEQ_NGA.pdf
World Bank Group. (2019). Profiting from parity: Unlocking the potential of women's business in Africa. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31421
World Development Report. (2012). Gender equality and development. The World Bank Group.
Funding
No funding was received for conducting this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There are no conflicts of interest with this research.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Owoo, N.S. Couple’s Decision-Making Power, Women’s Labour Market Outcomes, and Asset Ownership. Popul Res Policy Rev 41, 2365–2391 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-022-09732-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-022-09732-4