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Gender Disparity in Access to Information: Do Spouses Share What They Know?

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  • Fletschner, Diana
  • Mesbah, Dina

Abstract

Summary The United Nations (UN) has declared lack of access to information to be the third major challenge confronting women in developing countries, after poverty and violence. Analyzing a unique dataset of husbands and wives in rural Paraguay, we identify systematic differences between women and men's knowledge of financial markets and find that the factors that help predict individuals' knowledge of these markets vary by gender. Specifically, women are less likely than men to be informed about the financial institutions operating in their communities. Women are more likely to know what is required to obtain loans from financial institutions if they are more educated, live with other adult women, belong to wealthier households, are in a stronger bargaining position vis-à-vis their spouses, or have their husbands' approval to take out entrepreneurial loans.

Suggested Citation

  • Fletschner, Diana & Mesbah, Dina, 2011. "Gender Disparity in Access to Information: Do Spouses Share What They Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1422-1433, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:39:y:2011:i:8:p:1422-1433
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Diana Fletschner, 2008. "Women's Access to Credit: Does It Matter for Household Efficiency?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(3), pages 669-683.
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    5. Esther Duflo & Christopher Udry, 2003. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in Côte D'ivoire: Social Norms, Separate Accounts and Consumption Choices," Working Papers 857, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
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    7. Zwarteveen, M. Z., 1996. "A plot of one's own: gender relations and irrigated land allocation policies in Burkina Faso," IWMI Research Reports H019079, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Fletschner, Diana & Carter, Michael R., 2008. "Constructing and reconstructing gender: Reference group effects and women's demand for entrepreneurial capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 672-693, April.
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