From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable
Measuring power is central to empirical work on intrahousehold and gender relations. Early efforts to test household models focused on measuring spousal bargaining power, usually in models featuring two decisionmakers within the household. Proxy measures for bargaining power included age, education,...
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| Format: | Conference Paper |
| Language: | Inglés |
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International Association of Agricultural Economists
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151573 |
| _version_ | 1855534946100183040 |
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| author | Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| author_browse | Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| author_facet | Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| author_sort | Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Measuring power is central to empirical work on intrahousehold and gender relations. Early efforts to test household models focused on measuring spousal bargaining power, usually in models featuring two decisionmakers within the household. Proxy measures for bargaining power included age, education, assets, and “outside options” that could affect spouses’ threat points within marriage. Evidence rejecting the collective model of the household has influenced the design of policies and programs, notably conditional cash transfer programs. Efforts have since shifted to measuring empowerment, drawing on theories of agency and power. Since 2010, several measures of women’s empowerment have been developed, including the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and its variants. A distinct feature of the WEAI, like other counting-based measures, is its decomposability into its component indicators, which makes identifying sources of disempowerment possible. The WEAI indicators also embody jointness of decision-making or ownership, which better reflects actual decision-making within households compared to 2-person bargaining models. This paper reviews how progress in the measurement of power within households has facilitated our understanding of household decision-making and creates new opportunities for programs and policy.
JEL Codes: D13, J16, I38 |
| format | Conference Paper |
| id | CGSpace151573 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | International Association of Agricultural Economists |
| publisherStr | International Association of Agricultural Economists |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1515732025-04-08T18:27:09Z From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable Quisumbing, Agnes R. cash transfers decision making gender gender relations households women’s empowerment Measuring power is central to empirical work on intrahousehold and gender relations. Early efforts to test household models focused on measuring spousal bargaining power, usually in models featuring two decisionmakers within the household. Proxy measures for bargaining power included age, education, assets, and “outside options” that could affect spouses’ threat points within marriage. Evidence rejecting the collective model of the household has influenced the design of policies and programs, notably conditional cash transfer programs. Efforts have since shifted to measuring empowerment, drawing on theories of agency and power. Since 2010, several measures of women’s empowerment have been developed, including the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and its variants. A distinct feature of the WEAI, like other counting-based measures, is its decomposability into its component indicators, which makes identifying sources of disempowerment possible. The WEAI indicators also embody jointness of decision-making or ownership, which better reflects actual decision-making within households compared to 2-person bargaining models. This paper reviews how progress in the measurement of power within households has facilitated our understanding of household decision-making and creates new opportunities for programs and policy. JEL Codes: D13, J16, I38 2024-07-26 2024-08-07T16:56:26Z 2024-08-07T16:56:26Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151573 en Open Access International Association of Agricultural Economists Quisumbing, Agnes R. 2024. From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable. 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists Conference, August 2-7, 2024, New Delhi, India. https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.344356 |
| spellingShingle | cash transfers decision making gender gender relations households women’s empowerment Quisumbing, Agnes R. From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title | From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title_full | From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title_fullStr | From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title_full_unstemmed | From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title_short | From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable |
| title_sort | from bargaining power to empowerment measuring the unmeasurable |
| topic | cash transfers decision making gender gender relations households women’s empowerment |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151573 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT quisumbingagnesr frombargainingpowertoempowermentmeasuringtheunmeasurable |