Only women can whisper to gods: Voodoo, menopause and women’s autonomy

In various parts of the world women gain autonomy in decision-making as they get older. We hypothesize that part of this age-dividend is rooted in (historical) beliefs regarding the supernatural powers of menopaused women. To test this hypothesis, we study the age- and menopause-dividend in women’s decision-making autonomy in four West-African countries that include ethnic groups that practice(d) voodoo. Our empirical analysis relies on several rounds of DHS surveys, and a difference-in-differences strategy, in which we exploit the quasi-exogenous variation in the timing of menopause as well as the historical variation in magicoreligious beliefs across ethnicities. We find that (1) the age-dividend in women’s autonomy is more pronounced in ethnic groups that practice(d) voodoo, (2) the menopause-dividend is only observed among women from these groups, and (3) it is especially large for women whose husbands believe that illness can have a supernatural cause. We also document a tangible welfare effect, in terms of a higher Body Mass Index among menopaused women of voodoo-related ethnic groups. Our study constitutes the first attempt to unpack the cross-cultural age-dividend in women’s autonomy, thereby contributing to the detailed contextual knowledge needed for designing effective female empowerment policies.