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Measuring Women's Autonomy in Chad Using the Relative Autonomy Index

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  • Ana Vaz
  • Pierre Pratley
  • Sabina Alkire

Abstract

Increasing women's voice and agency is widely recognized as a key strategy to reduce gender inequalities and improve health outcomes. Although recent studies have found associations between women's autonomy and a number of health outcomes, fundamental issues regarding adequate measurement of women's autonomy remain. The Relative Autonomy Index (RAI) provides a direct measure of motivational autonomy. It expresses the extent to which a woman faces coercive or internalized social pressure to undertake domain-specific actions. This contribution addresses a key critique of current measures of autonomy, which focus on decision making or ignore women's values. This study examines the measurement properties and added value of a number of domain-specific RAIs using new nationally representative data from the Republic of Chad. A striking finding is that women on average have less autonomous motivation in all eight domains compared to their male counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Vaz & Pierre Pratley & Sabina Alkire, 2016. "Measuring Women's Autonomy in Chad Using the Relative Autonomy Index," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 264-294, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:22:y:2016:i:1:p:264-294
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2015.1108991
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lu Gram & Joanna Morrison & Jolene Skordis-Worrall, 2019. "Organising Concepts of ‘Women’s Empowerment’ for Measurement: A Typology," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1349-1376, June.
    2. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    3. Seymour, Gregory & Peterman, Amber, 2017. "Understanding the measurement of women’s autonomy: Illustrations from Bangladesh and Ghana," IFPRI discussion papers 1656, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Jayachandran, Seema & Biradavolu, Monica & Cooper, Jan, 2021. "Using Machine Learning and Qualitative Interviews to Design a Five-Question Women's Agency Index," IZA Discussion Papers 14221, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Oladele Atoyebi & Andrew Wister & Barbara Mitchell & Andrew Sixsmith, 2019. "A reformulation and assessment of the Global AgeWatch Wellbeing Index: inclusion of a gender-based domain," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 365-390, December.
    6. Dervisevic,Ervin & Perova,Elizaveta & Sahay,Abhilasha, 2021. "Long-Term Impacts of Short Exposure to Conditional Cash Transfers in Adolescence : Evidence from the Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9617, The World Bank.
    7. Bergolo, Marcelo & Galván, Estefanía, 2018. "Intra-household Behavioral Responses to Cash Transfer Programs. Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 100-118.
    8. Seymour, Greg & Peterman, Amber, 2018. "Context and measurement: An analysis of the relationship between intrahousehold decision making and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 97-112.
    9. Lu Gram & Jolene Skordis-Worrall & Dharma S Manandhar & Daniel Strachan & Joanna Morrison & Naomi Saville & David Osrin & Kirti M Tumbahangphe & Anthony Costello & Michelle Heys, 2018. "The long-term impact of community mobilisation through participatory women's groups on women's agency in the household: A follow-up study to the Makwanpur trial," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-22, May.
    10. Jayachandran, Seema & Biradavolu, Monica & Cooper, Jan, 2023. "Using machine learning and qualitative interviews to design a five-question survey module for women’s agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Karimli, Leyla & Lecoutere, Els & Wells, Christine R. & Ismayilova, Leyla, 2021. "More assets, more decision-making power? Mediation model in a cluster-randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of the graduation program on women's empowerment in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    12. Maryam Vizheh & Frances Rapport & Jeffrey Braithwaite & Yvonne Zurynski, 2023. "The Impact of Women’s Agency on Accessing and Using Maternal Healthcare Services: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Alice Evans, 2019. "How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia," CID Working Papers 356, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    14. Saleemi, Sundus & Kofol, Chiara, 2022. "Women’s participation in household decisions and gender equality in children’s education: Evidence from rural households in Pakistan," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    15. Laszlo, Sonia & Grantham, Kate & Oskay, Ecem & Zhang, Tingting, 2020. "Grappling with the challenges of measuring women's economic empowerment in intrahousehold settings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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