Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana

A number of studies have linked women’s empowerment (often measured by a version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, WEAI) to various development outcomes, especially related to nutrition and well-being among children. However, there is less exploration of how empowerment various among...

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Autores principales: Larson, Janelle, Martey, Edward, Fischer, Kaitlin, Glenna, Leland, Jensen, Leif
Formato: Ponencia
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Pennsylvania State University 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137125
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author Larson, Janelle
Martey, Edward
Fischer, Kaitlin
Glenna, Leland
Jensen, Leif
author_browse Fischer, Kaitlin
Glenna, Leland
Jensen, Leif
Larson, Janelle
Martey, Edward
author_facet Larson, Janelle
Martey, Edward
Fischer, Kaitlin
Glenna, Leland
Jensen, Leif
author_sort Larson, Janelle
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description A number of studies have linked women’s empowerment (often measured by a version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, WEAI) to various development outcomes, especially related to nutrition and well-being among children. However, there is less exploration of how empowerment various among wives in polygynous households. Furthermore, it is unknown how various domains of empowerment, as measured by the A-WEAI, differ among wives in such households. We surveyed household heads (husbands and all wives) in 68 households in two communities in Northern Ghana. Of these, 35 households were polygynous and 33 monogamous. Among the women in polygynous households, 35 were first wives, 34 were second wives (one was traveling) and four were third wives. Using the 5DE A-WEAI, we found that women are significantly less empowered than men in these communities across all domains other than group membership. A key driver of disempowerment among women was time poverty—nearly half of the women (47%) worked more than 10.5 hours per day, compared to 21% of the men. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in empowerment between wives in monogamous households and those in polygynous household, indicating that the larger culture (in these two communities) plays a more significant role than household structure in determining opportunities to women to have agency in their lives.
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spelling CGSpace1371252024-01-05T02:02:55Z Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana Larson, Janelle Martey, Edward Fischer, Kaitlin Glenna, Leland Jensen, Leif gender agriculture research women's empowerment A number of studies have linked women’s empowerment (often measured by a version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, WEAI) to various development outcomes, especially related to nutrition and well-being among children. However, there is less exploration of how empowerment various among wives in polygynous households. Furthermore, it is unknown how various domains of empowerment, as measured by the A-WEAI, differ among wives in such households. We surveyed household heads (husbands and all wives) in 68 households in two communities in Northern Ghana. Of these, 35 households were polygynous and 33 monogamous. Among the women in polygynous households, 35 were first wives, 34 were second wives (one was traveling) and four were third wives. Using the 5DE A-WEAI, we found that women are significantly less empowered than men in these communities across all domains other than group membership. A key driver of disempowerment among women was time poverty—nearly half of the women (47%) worked more than 10.5 hours per day, compared to 21% of the men. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in empowerment between wives in monogamous households and those in polygynous household, indicating that the larger culture (in these two communities) plays a more significant role than household structure in determining opportunities to women to have agency in their lives. 2023-10-09 2024-01-04T12:47:36Z 2024-01-04T12:47:36Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137125 en Open Access application/pdf Pennsylvania State University Larson, Janelle; Martey, Edward; Fischer, Kaitlin; Glenna, Leland; Jensen, Leif. 2023. Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana. Presentation. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems', New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. Pennsylvania State University
spellingShingle gender
agriculture
research
women's empowerment
Larson, Janelle
Martey, Edward
Fischer, Kaitlin
Glenna, Leland
Jensen, Leif
Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title_full Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title_fullStr Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title_short Empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in Northern Ghana
title_sort empowerment among women and men in monogamous and polygynous households in northern ghana
topic gender
agriculture
research
women's empowerment
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137125
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