IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/ifprid/1470.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Gender empowerment gaps in agriculture and children’s well-being in Bangladesh:

Author

Listed:
  • Malapit, Hazel J.
  • Sraboni, Esha
  • Quisumbing, Agnes R.
  • Ahmed, Akhter U.

Abstract

Development programs that reduce gender gaps are expected to not only improve women’s well-being, but also their children’s. This draws on a growing body of literature that shows a strong positive association between women’s status and control over resources and improvements in children’s outcomes, particularly nutrition and education. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence on the relationship between empowerment gaps between men and women in the same household and children’s well-being using nationally representative data from the 2012 Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS). We measure children’s well-being using nutritional status for younger children (ages 0–5) and education outcomes for older children (ages 6–10 and 11–17). We measure relative empowerment using direct measures of empowerment collected from men and women in the same households using the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Our findings suggest that gender gaps in empowerment are only weakly linked to children’s nutrition, although different measures of empowerment reveal significant differences between boys’ and girls’ outcomes, depending on the measures used. Overall, the household head’s (father’s) education is significantly associated with better nutrition and education outcomes for children, but younger girls (ages 6–10) and older boys and girls (ages 11–17) are more likely to receive more education when mothers are more educated. Our results on parental education suggest that fathers’ empowerment may be reflecting a “wealth†effect that is invested in children’s nutrition and education when they are young, while mothers’ empowerment becomes more important in girls’ education in general and keeping older children, regardless of sex, in school.

Suggested Citation

  • Malapit, Hazel J. & Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter U., 2015. "Gender empowerment gaps in agriculture and children’s well-being in Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1470, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1470
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/129730/filename/129941.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rubalcava, L. & Thomas, D., 2000. "Family Bargaining and Welfare," Papers 00-10, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    2. Alderman, Harold, et al, 1995. "Unitary versus Collective Models of the Household: Is It Time to Shift the Burden of Proof?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Duncan Thomas, 1990. "Intra-Household Resource Allocation: An Inferential Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 635-664.
    4. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Suneetha Kadiyala & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Kenda Cunningham & Parul Tyagi, 2015. "Women's Empowerment Mitigates the Negative Effects of Low Production Diversity on Maternal and Child Nutrition in Nepal," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(8), pages 1097-1123, August.
    5. Bhagowalia, Priya & Menon, Purnima & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Soundararajan, Vidhya, 2012. "What Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment Matter Most for Child Nutrition? Evidence Using Nationally Representative Data from Bangladesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1192, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Cheryl R. Doss, 1996. "Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in an Uncertain Environment," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1335-1339.
    7. Hoddinott, John & Haddad, Lawrence, 1995. "Does Female Income Share Influence Household Expenditures? Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(1), pages 77-96, February.
    8. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    9. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2015. "What dimensions of women’s empowerment in agriculture matter for nutrition in Ghana?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 54-63.
    11. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    12. Agnes R. Quisumbing & John A. Maluccio, 2003. "Resources at Marriage and Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(3), pages 283-327, July.
    13. Allendorf, Keera, 2007. "Do Women's Land Rights Promote Empowerment and Child Health in Nepal?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1975-1988, November.
    14. Shelly J. Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak & Terence J. Wales, 1997. "Do Husbands and Wives Pool Their Resources? Evidence from the United Kingdom Child Benefit," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 32(3), pages 463-480.
    15. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    16. T. Paul Schultz, 1990. "Testing the Neoclassical Model of Family Labor Supply and Fertility," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 599-634.
    17. Skoufias, Emmanuel, 2005. "PROGRESA and its impacts on the welfare of rural households in Mexico:," Research reports 139, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Smith, Lisa C. & Ramakrishnan, Usha & Ndiaye, Aida & Haddad, Lawrence James & Martorell, Reynaldo, 2003. "The importance of women's status for child nutrition in developing countries:," Research reports 131, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joseph Deutsch & Jacques Silber, 2017. "Does women’s empowerment affect the health of children? The case of Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series 211, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Akhter U. Ahmed & Salauddin Tauseef, 2022. "Climbing up the Ladder and Watching Out for the Fall: Poverty Dynamics in Rural Bangladesh," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 309-340, February.
    3. Belmondo V. Tanankem & Uchenna R. Efobi & Ngozi S. Atata, 2016. "Women Empowerment and Intra-household Dietary Diversity in Nigeria," Research Africa Network Working Papers 16/050, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    4. Rao, Nitya & Gazdar, Haris & Chanchani, Devanshi & Ibrahim, Marium, 2019. "Women’s agricultural work and nutrition in South Asia: From pathways to a cross-disciplinary, grounded analytical framework," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 50-62.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Esha Sraboni & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2019. "Intrahousehold empowerment gaps in agriculture and children's well‐being in Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 176-203, March.
    2. Anderson, C. Leigh & Reynolds, Travis W. & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2017. "Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-making Authority and Evidence on Intra-household Accord in Rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 169-183.
    3. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Mahbub Hossain & M. Niaz Asadullah & Uma Kambhampati, 2021. "Women’s empowerment and gender-differentiated food allocation in Bangladesh," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 739-767, September.
    5. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    6. Meinzen-Dick, R., 2012. "Putting gender on the map: methods for mapping gendered farm management systems in Sub-Saharan Africa," IWMI Working Papers H045510, International Water Management Institute.
    7. Yang Yang, 2023. "Hukou Identity and Economic Behaviours: A Social Identity Perspective," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph23-02 edited by Catherine Bros & Julie Lochard, February.
    8. Denni Tommasi, 2015. "How Cash Transfers Improve Child Development," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2015-19, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Tommasi, Denni, 2019. "Control of resources, bargaining power and the demand of food: Evidence from PROGRESA," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 265-286.
    10. Komatsu, Hitomi & Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Theis, Sophie, 2018. "Does women’s time in domestic work and agriculture affect women’s and children’s dietary diversity? Evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 256-270.
    11. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2019. "The role of land tenure security in promoting rural women’s empowerment: Empirical evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 280-289.
    12. Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel, 2012. "Parental investment in their children’s education," Serie documentos de trabajo del Centro de Estudios Económicos 2012-09, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos.
    13. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & McClafferty, Bonnie, 2006. "Using gender research in development: food security in practice," Food security in practice technical guide series 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Rink, Ute & Barros, Laura, 2021. "Spending or saving? Female empowerment and financial decisions in a matrilineal society," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. James Andreoni & Eleanor Brown & Isaac Rischall, 2003. "Charitable Giving by Married Couples Who Decides and Why Does it Matter?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(1).
    17. Maligalig, Rio L. & Demont, Matty & Umberger, Wendy J. & Peralta, Alexandra, 2017. "Intrahousehold decision making on rice varietal trait improvements: Using experiments to estimate gender influence," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258522, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Doss, Cheryl, 2013. "Intrahousehold bargaining and resource allocation in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6337, The World Bank.
    19. Alem, Yonas & Hassen, Sied & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2018. "Decision-making within the Household: The Role of Autonomy and Differences in Preferences," Working Papers in Economics 724, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    20. Chiappori, Pierre-André & Donni, Olivier, 2006. "Les modèles non unitaires de comportement du ménage : un survol de la littérature," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 82(1), pages 9-52, mars-juin.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; women; education; nutrition; children; social welfare; households; role of women;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1470. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.