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Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?

Author

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  • Rania Salem

    (University of Toronto Scarborough)

  • Yuk Fai Cheong

    (Emory University)

  • Kathryn M. Yount

    (Emory University)

Abstract

Whether work is performed for household members’ consumption (subsistence work) or for sale to others (market work), it may be an enabling resource for women’s agency, or their capacity to define and act upon their goals. The present paper asks: Do women who engage in market work have higher agency in the three domains of economic decision-making, freedom of movement, and equitable gender role attitudes, compared to those who engage in subsistence work and those who do not work? To address this question, we leverage data from a probability sample of ever-married women in rural Minya, Egypt (N = 600). We use structural equation models with propensity score adjustment to estimate the relationship between women’s work and three domains of their agency. We find no effect on gender attitudes or decision making. However, women’s subsistence and market work are associated with increasingly higher factor means for freedom of movement, compared to not working. We conclude that in rural Minya, the relationship between women’s work and their agency depends on the type of work they perform and the dimension of agency under consideration, with the rewards of market work exceeding those of subsistence work in the domain of freedom of movement alone.

Suggested Citation

  • Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kathryn M. Yount, 2018. "Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 807-831, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:136:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1573-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1573-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kathryn Yount & Sarah Zureick-Brown & Rania Salem, 2014. "Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s Economic and Non-Economic Activities in Minya, Egypt," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1069-1099, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Carmen Friedrich & Henriette Engelhardt & Florian Schulz, 2021. "Women’s Agency in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia: The Role of Parenthood and Education," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 1025-1059, October.
    2. Zohra S. Lassi & Anna Ali & Salima Meherali, 2021. "Women’s Participation in Household Decision Making and Justification of Wife Beating: A Secondary Data Analysis from Pakistan’s Demographic and Health Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    3. Eunice Williams & Sabu S. Padmadas & Heini Vaisanen, 2022. "Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(15), pages 415-452.

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