CD-Rom included.

This paper reviews recent conceptual and empirical developments regarding household behavior and gender norms in developing countries covering the following general topics: (1) what do the data tell us about gender gaps in control and ownership of resources? (2) what have we learned about jointness in household behavior; (3) what do the data tell us about the resources that men and women control, whether solely or jointly; and (4) why does it matter?

"This report examines the distribution and correlates of two different dimensions of the empowerment of currently married women age 15-49 in 23 developing countries"-- P. xv.

This study focuses on gender differences and their implications for household decision making in terms of production, consumption, fertility and the measurement of welfare. Using econometric approaches, the study reveals that different preferences as well as unequal access to resources determine the outcomes of household decisions. However, preferences and responses to inequality are not static but change depending on risk behavior and the institutional setting as demonstrated with examples from agricultural production and household demand for consumption goods. The means to translate preferences into actual demand depend on the bargaining power married women have in household decision making. Furthermore, the results reveal that apparent gender differences in terms of demand lead to an identification problem of adult equivalence scales, when these are estimated using demand data.

In this paper, we test if households where women participate in decisions regarding children's education and allocation of household education budgets incur more equal expenditures on education of boys and girls. Moreover, we test if women's awareness of gender equality can reduce inequality between boys and girls at the household level. We estimate these effects using three rounds of longitudinal data of rural households in Pakistan. We use both household and year fixed effects to control for endogeneity of the dependent and explanatory variables. The results suggest that households where women participate in decisions regarding children's education spend higher shares of education expenditures on education of girls in the secondary school age group (11-16). The results of Heckman Selection Model, corroborated by an estimated logit model, suggest that in households where women participate in children's education decisions and where women are aware of gender equality in education, girl children are more likely to be enrolled in school. The paper contributes to the refinement of measures of women's empowerment and to understanding of the mechanisms to achieve gender equality in education.

Numerous approaches have been developed by researchers for measuring intra-household decisionmaking. Most use quantitative surveys that often rely on a standard set of questions that inquire about who contributes to key household decisions or women’s abilities to participate in these decisions. Such questions have been criticized for focusing too much on the identity of the decision maker and less on understanding why and how decisions get made within the household and on the multiple facets of women’s roles in decision-making processes1. To address the shortcomings of current approaches, we (an interdisciplinary group of applied gender and agriculture researchers) developed a transdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach that can be adapted across livelihoods and geographies to measure intra-household decision making and shed light on the “who,” “why,” and “how” of important household decisions. This guide describes the transdisciplinary process that was used to develop the mixed-methods research tool for understanding and measuring intra-household decision making. In our approach, we focus on measuring who makes which decisions, how, and why and how this influences food, nutrition, and economic security outcomes. This guide, therefore, provides a base for other researchers and development practitioners to develop a context-specific mixed-methods tool for understanding and measuring intra-household decision making.

As a result of widespread mistreatment and overt discrimination, women in the developing world often lack autonomy. This book explores key sources of female empowerment and discusses the current challenges and opportunities for the future.