Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan

Can having higher aspirations, or goals for the future, contribute to the empowerment of women? A growing literature shows that aspirations increase a host of forward-looking economic and political behaviors, from entrepreneurship to civic engagement. This has stimulated interest in development inte...

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Main Authors: Kosec, Katrina, Akramov, Kamiljon T., Mirkasimov, Bakhrom, Song, Jie
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146010
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author Kosec, Katrina
Akramov, Kamiljon T.
Mirkasimov, Bakhrom
Song, Jie
author_browse Akramov, Kamiljon T.
Kosec, Katrina
Mirkasimov, Bakhrom
Song, Jie
author_facet Kosec, Katrina
Akramov, Kamiljon T.
Mirkasimov, Bakhrom
Song, Jie
author_sort Kosec, Katrina
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Can having higher aspirations, or goals for the future, contribute to the empowerment of women? A growing literature shows that aspirations increase a host of forward-looking economic and political behaviors, from entrepreneurship to civic engagement. This has stimulated interest in development interventions aimed at reducing behavioral poverty traps. At the same time, a wealth of literature suggests that women’s empowerment and involvement in decision-making can be welfare-improving. It can increase household income and asset wealth by ensuring that women are economically active and have high levels of human capital; increase technical efficiency on the farm; and improve health, nutrition, and education outcomes for children. Linking these two literatures, we posit that one route to women’s empowerment may be to raise aspirations—either those of a woman herself, or those of her husband, who often wields considerable influence over her decision-making authority and access to resources. We find that having a husband who sets ambitious goals for himself predicts more egalitarian gender attitudes for both the husband and his wife. Higher aspirations on the part of wives also predict more egalitarian gender attitudes (for both the husband and his wife), but they additionally predict greater involvement of women in household decision-making. This suggests that efforts to fuel either men’s or women’s ambition can shift gender attitudes, but that targeting women is the more effective way to build women’s decision-making power.
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spelling CGSpace1460102025-11-06T06:46:08Z Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan Kosec, Katrina Akramov, Kamiljon T. Mirkasimov, Bakhrom Song, Jie gender demand empowerment decision making women Can having higher aspirations, or goals for the future, contribute to the empowerment of women? A growing literature shows that aspirations increase a host of forward-looking economic and political behaviors, from entrepreneurship to civic engagement. This has stimulated interest in development interventions aimed at reducing behavioral poverty traps. At the same time, a wealth of literature suggests that women’s empowerment and involvement in decision-making can be welfare-improving. It can increase household income and asset wealth by ensuring that women are economically active and have high levels of human capital; increase technical efficiency on the farm; and improve health, nutrition, and education outcomes for children. Linking these two literatures, we posit that one route to women’s empowerment may be to raise aspirations—either those of a woman herself, or those of her husband, who often wields considerable influence over her decision-making authority and access to resources. We find that having a husband who sets ambitious goals for himself predicts more egalitarian gender attitudes for both the husband and his wife. Higher aspirations on the part of wives also predict more egalitarian gender attitudes (for both the husband and his wife), but they additionally predict greater involvement of women in household decision-making. This suggests that efforts to fuel either men’s or women’s ambition can shift gender attitudes, but that targeting women is the more effective way to build women’s decision-making power. 2018-12-24 2024-06-21T09:05:34Z 2024-06-21T09:05:34Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146010 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151061 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153895 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146109 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/150032 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133520 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Kosec, Katrina; Akramov, Kamiljon T.; Mirkasimov, Bakhrom; and Song, Jie. 2018. Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1786. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146010
spellingShingle gender
demand
empowerment
decision making
women
Kosec, Katrina
Akramov, Kamiljon T.
Mirkasimov, Bakhrom
Song, Jie
Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title_full Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title_fullStr Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title_full_unstemmed Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title_short Aspirations and women’s empowerment: Evidence from Kyrgyzstan
title_sort aspirations and women s empowerment evidence from kyrgyzstan
topic gender
demand
empowerment
decision making
women
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146010
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AT akramovkamiljont aspirationsandwomensempowermentevidencefromkyrgyzstan
AT mirkasimovbakhrom aspirationsandwomensempowermentevidencefromkyrgyzstan
AT songjie aspirationsandwomensempowermentevidencefromkyrgyzstan