From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable
Measuring power is central to empirical work on intrahousehold and gender relations. 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. Early efforts to te...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174871 |
| _version_ | 1855522069813395456 |
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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. 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. Early efforts to test household models focused on measuring spousal bargaining power, usually in models featuring two decision-makers 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. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.
This paper was presented at a Plenary Session of the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) 2024, held from 2–7 August, 2024 in New Delhi, India. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace174871 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1748712025-06-30T14:47:33Z From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable Quisumbing, Agnes R. bargaining power decision making households women's empowerment gender Measuring power is central to empirical work on intrahousehold and gender relations. 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. Early efforts to test household models focused on measuring spousal bargaining power, usually in models featuring two decision-makers 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. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research. This paper was presented at a Plenary Session of the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE) 2024, held from 2–7 August, 2024 in New Delhi, India. 2025-05 2025-05-29T15:49:20Z 2025-05-29T15:49:20Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174871 en https://iaae.confex.com/iaae/icae32/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/22674 Open Access Wiley Quisumbing, Agnes R. 2025. From bargaining power to empowerment: Measuring the unmeasurable. Agricultural Economics 56(3): 419-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.70022 |
| spellingShingle | bargaining power decision making households women's empowerment gender 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 | bargaining power decision making households women's empowerment gender |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174871 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT quisumbingagnesr frombargainingpowertoempowermentmeasuringtheunmeasurable |