Transcript women`s property, mobility and decision-making

WOMEN’S PROPERTY, MOBILITY AND DECISION-MAKING:
EVIDENCE FROM RURAL KARNATAKA, INDIA
Hema Swaminathan, Rahul Lahoti, Suchitra J. Y.
Centre for Public Policy
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
Annual Conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics
Barcelona, June 27 2012
Motivation
• Women’s asset ownership has several welfare
outcomes
– Greater control over income
– Improvements in prenatal care, children’s schooling status,
nutrition
– Bargaining power
– Reduced experience of violence
Property - Decision making - Welfare
+ Schooling
status
Women’s
asset
ownership
+ Bargaining
power
(participation
in decisionmaking)
+ Nutrition
- Violence
Literature
• Allendorf (2007): Nepal DHS – land ownership
enhances decision-making power pertaining to own
health, household purchases, family visits
• Garikipati (2009): South Indian state of Andhra
Pradesh – land + other productive assets leads to
greater autonomy in household decision-making and
labour markets
• Datta (2006): North Indian city of Chandigarh – joint
titling policy enhances participation in household
decision-making
Research Question
• What is the impact of women’s property
ownership on their mobility and decisionmaking status?
Data and Methods
• Data from the Gender Asset Gap Project (201011)
– Karnataka Household Asset Survey (KHAS)
– Rural area focus
• Asset ownership of individuals
– Enables a true gendered analysis instead of having to
rely on analysis based on sex of household head
• Valuation of assets
Asset Ownership
• Principal residence
• Agricultural land
– Together account for 87% of gross physical worth in
rural areas
• Two specifications:
– Incidence of ownership
– Share in household worth of these assets
Decision-making
• Whether to be employed (1=decide
independently, 0 otherwise)
• Accessing health services (1=decide
independently, 0 otherwise)
• Use of money (2=have money and decide
independently, 1=have money and cannot
decide independently, 0=no money)
Mobility
• Mobility
– Market
– Health facility
– Outside the community
• Index combining the above – 1 if travel to all
three alone, 0 otherwise
Empirical Specification
Endogeneity Concerns
• Instruments (?)
• Modes of asset acquisition
– Use of assets acquired only exogenously by women:
natal inheritance, inheritance upon death of spouse,
government programmes, gifts
– Assets acquired through modes that could be
endogenous excluded: self-acquisition, natal
inheritance of spouse
RESULTS
Incidence of Asset Ownership by Sex (%)
Asset category
All
men
All
women
Currently
married
women
Currently
single
women
Principal residence
75
24
13
74
Agricultural land
Total number of
respondents
60
13
6
40
2,227
2,450
1,994
456
Asset Ownership and Mobility (%)
All women
Women allowed to travel alone to
Asset ownership
Other places
All three
Market Health facility outside community places
Women in households that do not own land or
residence
Non-owning women in households that own
land or residence
Women owners of either land or residence
65
63
57
50
60
84
53
76
53
76
46
70
Currently married women
Asset ownership
Women in households that do not own land or
residence
Non-owning women in households that own
land or residence
Women owners of either land or residence
Women allowed to travel alone to
Other places
All three
Market Health facility outside community places
59
57
50
42
58
81
51
69
50
66
44
64
Asset Ownership and Decision-making (%)
All women
Asset ownership
Women in households that do not own land or
residence
Non-owning women in households that own land or
residence
Women owners of either land or residence
Women's ability to make decisions alone
Whether to be Accessing health Spending money of
employed
facility
their own
32
29
48
19
72
20
54
46
73
Currently married women
Women's ability to make decisions alone
Asset ownership
Women in households that do not own land or
residence
Non-owning women in households that own land or
residence
Women owners of either land or residence
Whether to be Accessing health Spending money
employed
facility
of their own
20
16
39
13
36
16
33
43
65
Summary Statistics
Exogenously Acquired Assets
Currently married
All women
women
Owning either house or
land
Mean share in gross
worth of house and land
15
6
7
2
Property Ownership, Mobility, and Decision-making:
Marginal Effects
All women
Mobility
Employment
Access to health service
Have money and can decide
Share in worth of house
Owner of land or house
and land
0.092***
0.091*
0.171***
0.140***
0.083***
0.033
0.100***
0.098*
Share in worth of house
Currently married women
Owner of land or house
and land
0.134***
0.299***
Mobility
0.074**
0.077*
Employment
0.081**
0.142***
Access to health service
0.092
0.132
Have money and can decide
0
.1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9
1
Predicted Probability for Wealth Shares, All
Women
0
.2
.4
.6
Women's share in property value
Mobility
Health
Source: Authors' calculations. KHAS 2010-11.
Employment
Money
.8
1
Predicted Probability for Wealth Shares,
Currently Married Women
Other determinants – Incidence specification
All women
Variables
Occupation (base:
homemaker)
Wage employed
Self employed
Casual worker
Contributing family
worker
Education (base:
illiterate)
Secondary
Higher secondary
Diploma and above
Age
Number of
observations
Mobility
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
Employment
(+) **
(+) *
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) **
(+) ***
2,427
(+) ***
2,425
Currently married women
Health
service
Use of
money
Health Use of
Mobility Employment service money
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) *** (+) **
(+) ***
(+) *** (+) ***
(+) **
(+) **
(+) ***
(+) **
(+) *
(+) **
(+) *
(+) *
(+) **
(+) **
(+) **
(+) *** (+) ***
(+) *
(+) ***
(+) ** (+) **
2,417
2,422
1,977
(+) ***
(+) ***
(+) ***
1,976 1,972 1,974
Other determinants – Incidence specification
All women
Health
Mobility Employment service
Variables
Currently married
(base: currently single) (-) ***
Spouse present
Islam (base: Hindu)
(-) ***
Caste (base: Forward Caste and
other)
Backward and Other
Backward Caste
(-) **
Scheduled Caste and
Scheduled Tribe
(-) **
No. adult men in hh
(-) ***
No. adult women in hh
Household wealth (base: bottom
20%)
Middle 40%
(-) **
Top 40%
(-) ***
Number of
observations
2,427
(-) ***
Currently married women
Use of
money
Health
Mobility Employment service
(-) *** (-) ***
(-) **
(-) *
(-) ***
(-) *
(-) *
(-) *
(-) ***
(-) *
(-) ***
(-) *
(-)***
(-)***
(-) *** (-) ***
(-) *** (-) *
2,425 2,417
2,422
(-)***
(-) *
(-) **
(-) **
Use of
money
(-) **
(-) ***
1,977
(-) *
1,976
1,972
1,974
Concluding thoughts
• Vast gender asset gap prevails in home and land
ownership
• Women’s channels of asset acquisition overall
are restricted
• Property ownership enhances their ability to
travel alone and independently make decisions
in areas important to their lives
• Role of employment – any form of employment
improves autonomy
• Education – not as strong an impact as expected
• Household economic status – negative impact
Thank You!
For the country studies & comparative report see:
http://genderassetgap.iimb.ernet.in
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore – 560 076, INDIA
www.iimb.ernet.in