The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment: evidence from China

The impact of microcredit on women's empowerment remains controversial, as documented in the microfinance literature. While some studies claim that microcredit helps women increase their income earning abilities, leading to greater power to overcome cultural asymmetries, others contend that small loans allocated to women are usually controlled by their spouses, which results in more severe subordination of women and leaves them more vulnerable to the patriarchy system within the household and/or at society level. This paper evaluates the empowerment impact of microcredit on rural women in China. Logistic regression is employed for empirical analysis and data are collected through a rural household survey. The results confirm that microcredit has a significant impact on five dimensions of women's empowerment, ranging from economic security to awareness of social/legal issues.     

House price,fertility rates and reproductive intentions

This paper uses national representative data collected through population census and household surveys to estimate the effect of house price on women's childbearing behaviors and intentions. It shows that higher house price significantly lowers women's reproductive probability and that women aged 30 and under, who have been married for 3–5 years, and those with no children are more sensitive to such effect. A significantly negative fertility response to house price is observed among renter families and those with self-built houses, but the response is insignificant for home-owning families. Subsample analysis by child gender reveals that house price mainly affects the probability of male births. Furthermore, women in regions with higher house prices are more willing to have daughters whereas those owning more houses tend to have sons.     

Women's empowerment and child health outcomes in Ghana

This study investigates whether women's empowerment, measured by education attainment relative to her partner, decision‐making, and domestic violence is related to nutritional status of children in Ghana. Using the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, the study examines the effect of women empowerment on child's nutritional status at different points in its conditional distributions using ordinary least squares and quantile regression estimation technique. The study observes that women's empowerment is associated with improvement in the nutritional status of children with Z‐scores less than ?4 and ?3 standard deviations, for acutely and severely malnourished children respectively in the long run. The study recommends that the Ministry for Gender and Social Protection should educate male partners on the need for women participation in decision‐making at the household level as well as make formal education accessible to women.     

Inequities in under-five child nutritional status in South Africa: What progress has been made?

Despite the emphasis given to poverty reduction in policy statements and a substantial increase in social spending, money-metric poverty has shown little improvement since South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994. Alternative approaches to measuring well-being and inequality may show a more positive trend. This article uses the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study to assess the magnitude of inequalities in under-five child malnutrition ascribable to economic status. The article compares these results with those of Zere and McIntyre, who analysed similar data collected in 1993. In both cases, household income, proxied by per-capita household expenditure, was used as the indicator of socio-economic status. Children's heights and weights have increased since 1993 and being stunted or underweight has become less common. Furthermore, pro-rich inequalities in stunting and being underweight have significantly declined since the end of apartheid. This suggests that pro-poor improvements in child welfare have taken place. Policies that may have contributed to this include the Child Support Grant, introduced in 1998, and improvements in healthcare and the education of women.     

Can robots reshape gender role attitudes?

In this paper, we study the impact of robotization on gender role attitudes in China. We show that robot adoption promotes egalitarian gender role attitudes; and the impact is statistically larger for women, urban, and younger generation subsamples. We provide evidence to show that the reshaping of gender role attitudes is mainly due to the improvement and rationalization of women's employment performance: robot adoption increases females' non-agricultural employment opportunity and their wage, and also improves females' relative economic status both in the workplace and in the household.     

The influence of family management on attendance and successful completion of skills training courses in KwaZulu-Natal

This study surveyed women engaged in skills training courses to determine whether selected family management variables influenced their attendance of such courses and their successful completion of training. A sample of 161 women engaged in skills training courses for income generation offered by four NGOs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were surveyed by means of a questionnaire. The dependent variables were course attendance and rate of successful completion of training. The independent variables were selected as indicators of women's family management practices (such as participation in household production and child care, income, task and time orientation). It was concluded that the significant family management variables may be appropriate predictors of attendance and successful completion of skills training. Reassessment of the design of skills training courses is suggested to accommodate women's needs and restraints associated with the demands of their home environments. Further refinement of the significant variables is recommended.     

Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant

Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores women's accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.     

Women's work and wages in the sixteenth century and Sweden's position in the ‘little divergence’

We use a unique source from the Swedish royal demesnes to examine the work and relative wages of women in sixteenth-century Sweden, an economic laggard in the early modern period. The source pertains to workers hired on yearly contracts, a type more representative of historical labour markets than day labour on large construction sites, and this allows us to observe directly the food consumed by workers. We speak to the debate on the ‘little divergence’ within Europe, as women's work and gender differentials in pay is a key indicator of women's relative autonomy and seen as a cause for the economic ascendency of the North Sea region during the period. We find small gender differentials among both unskilled and skilled workers, indicating that Sweden was a part of the ‘golden age’ for women. We argue that despite superficial equality, women's economic outlooks were restrained in many other ways – including their access to higher-skilled work and jobs in the expanding parts of the economy – adding important nuance to the discussion about the relationship between women's social position and economic growth in the early modern period.     

Land,ladies, and the law: a case study on women's land rights and welfare in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century†

This study evaluates women's de jure and de facto land rights and their implications for household welfare in nineteenth‐century Bangkok. Women constituted a significant share of agricultural landowners holding government‐issued land deeds in central Siam (now Thailand)—a pattern that stands in contrast to both historical and contemporary developing economy contexts where the structure of land rights often favours men. The findings show, through both direct and indirect evidence, that women's de jure rights were upheld in practice. Women made significantly more agricultural investments than male or mixed‐gender owners, which supports the assertion that women perceived their land rights as secure under Siam's traditional usufruct land rights system. An assessment of land‐related court cases directly supports our claim, showing that women in Siam had access to legal representation and were protected when their land rights were challenged by investors and local elites in the context of high demand for both agricultural and urban land. Such secure land rights helped preserve women's livelihoods as agriculturists and household well‐being. We estimate that the median female‐owned orchard could support 10 adults annually, achieving a standard of living comparable to unskilled labourer households in Beijing and Milan during the same period.     

Gender inequality in asset ownership and women's food security in sub-Saharan Africa

Unequal asset rights remain an important driver of gender inequality and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using cross-sectional data from 31 SSA countries, this study examines the effect of gender inequality in asset ownership on women's food security in the region. The seemingly unrelated (SUR) bivariate probit framework has been adopted in analysing the data. This approach is used for addressing the possible endogeneity bias that occurs when the dependent variable and regressor are both endogenous and binary. The major finding of this study reveals that gender inequality in asset ownership increases women's risk of facing food insecurity. The aforementioned is more pronounced for women who are undereducated, live in rural areas, and suffer various forms of discrimination. It is therefore important that more egalitarian laws on asset ownership and inheritance be adopted in all SSA countries. This will significantly increase women's specific food security and thus contribute to improving inclusiveness in these countries.     

Wages for Wives: Renegotiating Gender and Production Relations in Contract Farming in the Dominican Republic

This study analyzes the intersection of gender and production relations in small-scale contracting in nontraditional agriculture. The case of the processing tomato industry in the Dominican Republic exemplifies patterns found throughout the region. Building on a critique of unitary household models, I analyze the gendered relations mobilizing resources for contract farming. As appears common, contracting has heightened demand for women's farm labor. Contracting has simultaneously provided women with openings for contesting the appropriation of their unpaid labor and many women are claiming payment for work in contract farming. This case demonstrates the importance of gender issues in informing contract farming debates and policy interventions.     

Are social protection programmes child-sensitive?

There is no doubt that child focus in the social protection agenda makes development and economic sense, yet child-sensitive social protection still remains elusive in some African country programmes. The case study of the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia discussed in this paper shows that the child-conditioned component in both the design and the implementation of this huge social protection programme is largely absent. Child-sensitive social programming, which discretely improves children's schooling and access to basic health care services and protects them from child labour, is recommended, with prioritisation of child labour saving assets as one of the key interventions.     

Endogenous,Intra‐household Decision‐making and its Impact on the Labor Supply of Couples in Rural India*

Using data for rural India, this paper analyzes households' labor supply decision‐making, taking into consideration non‐participation, endogenous intrahousehold bargaining and nutritional status. Analyses of unitary and collective models suggest that bargaining between household members forms the basis of households' decisions, and these decisions alter households' internal power balance. Analysis of households' internal bargaining process suggests that women's bargaining power increases when their wages are higher and they are better educated. The results indicate that it is crucial to account for the mechanics of decision‐making within households when studying the effects of changing labor market conditions or designing development policies to improve individual well‐being or to empower women.     

The South African disability grant: Influence on HIV treatment outcomes and household well-being in KwaZulu-Natal

This paper explores the implications of the disability grant for household members' well-being and adults' success on ART (antiretroviral therapy). It uses case studies based on data from an in-depth qualitative study of 10 households in KwaZulu-Natal. Receipt of the disability grant ensured that the basic needs of the HIV-infected adult could be met by other household members, especially when the grant was received when the person first met the qualifying criteria and in conjunction with ART. Where treatment was effective, HIV-infected adults were able to make substantial contributions to the well-being of other members in addition to the financial support provided by the grant itself. Thus, early access to financial support in conjunction with commencing ART may lead to improved health outcomes and reduce poverty and vulnerability associated with illness in poor households. This synergistic relationship between social welfare and treatment may in turn contribute to greater cost-efficiency.     

Working Women in an Urban Setting: Traders,Vendors and Food Security in Accra

Data collected from a 1997 household survey carried out in Accra, Ghana are used to look at the crucial role that women play as income earners and securing access to food in urban areas. One-third of the households surveyed are headed by women. For all households, women's labor force participation is high with 75% of all households having at least one working woman. The high number of female-headed households and the large percentage of working women in the sample provide a good backdrop for looking at how women earn and spend income differently than men in an urban area. Livelihood strategies for both men and women are predominantly labor based and dependent on social networks. For all households in the sample, food is still the single most important item in the total budget. Yet, important and striking differences between men's and women's livelihoods and expenditure patterns exist. Compared to men, women are less likely to be employed as wage earners, and more likely to work as street food vendors or petty traders. Women earn lower incomes, but tend to allocate more of their budget to basic goods for themselves and their children, while men spend more on entertainment for themselves only. Despite lower incomes and additional demands on their time as housewives and mothers, female-headed households, petty traders and street food vendors have the largest percentage of food-secure households. Women may be achieving household food security, but at what cost? This paper explores differences in income, expenditure and consumption patterns in an effort to answer this question, and suggests ways that urban planners and policy makers can address special concerns to working women in urban areas.     

Patrilineality,fertility, and women's income: Evidence from family lineage in China

This study investigates how traditional patrilineal family institution influences women's income through fertility behavior by offering evidence from family lineage (zongzu) in China. We hypothesize that family with strong lineage—proxied by owning genealogy—has a negative effect on women's income through the son-targeting fertility behavior. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, this study confirms the hypothesis. Relative to the women whose first child is a son, the women marring into families owning genealogy indeed have more children and lower income, if their first child is a daughter. In contrast, such finding does not hold for the male sample. Preliminary evidence suggests that shorter work time can explain the findings.     

Contract Farming in Mozambique: Implications for Gender Inequalities Within and Across Rural Households

This paper analyses the implications of contract farming for gender inequalities in rural Mozambique. Contract farming is often considered one of the major tools of agribusiness development. It broadly includes those arrangements under which producers commit to providing cash crop to a buyer firm. This paper exploits a panel dataset (2002–2005) collected by the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture among a nationally representative sample of rural households to explore contracts’ implications for gender equality both across and within households. We look at both the participation of female‐headed households in contracts and the impact of establishing a contract on a set of intra‐household women empowerment indicators. Concerning the first, our results confirm a (small though significant) effect of selection out of contracts of households where a woman is the household’s head. With regard to the second, we expect contrasting effects to be at work: on the one hand, increased income may relax budget constraints improving women’s living conditions, and on the other, we may expect a shift in favour of men of the control over the household’s assets. We find different results according to the indicator used; after controlling for selection bias, we find no effect on control over land but a negative effect on women’s access to extension services.     

Gender equality rights versus traditional practices: Struggles for control and change in Swaziland

In Swaziland, as in many other African nations, women have historically faced unequal social, economic, legal, political and cultural treatment because of their gender. This article assesses the extent of gender inequality currently in practice in this southern African kingdom. In addition, it provides policy recommendations to assist the Swazis to move progressively towards greater gender balance in their governance and public policy systems. Will change occur peacefully over the next decade? Change is likely, as Swazi women have more exposure to information and telecommunications technology, and as the growing international women's movement allows for increased gender comparisons with other cultures.     

Care and Nutrition: Concepts and Measurement

Care is the provision in the household and the community of time, attention, and support to meet the physical, mental, and social needs of the growing child and other household members. The significance of care has best been articulated in the framework developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This paper extends the UNICEF model of care and summarizes the literature on the relationship of care practices and resources to child nutrition. The paper also summarizes attempts to measure the various dimensions of care. The concept of care is extended in two directions: first, we define resources needed by the caregiver for care and, second, we show that the child's own characteristics play a role in the kind of care that he or she receives. The literature summary and methodological recommendations are made for six types of resources for care and for two of the least studied care practices: complementary feeding and psychosocial care. The other care practices are care for women, breast-feeding, food preparation, hygiene, and home health practices. Feeding practices that affect a child's nutritional status include adaptation of feeding to the child's abilities (offering finger foods, for example); responsiveness of the caregiver to the child (perhaps offering additional or different foods); and selection of an appropriate feeding context. Psychosocial care is the provision of affection and attention to the child and responsiveness to the child's cues. It includes physical, visual, and verbal interactions.     

Gender-responsive budgeting: The case for Botswana

Various conferences on women's rights have identified a relationship between gender, power, decision-making and resource allocation. Considering it is a given that pockets of gender inequality in many developing countries, including Botswana, the women will always be disadvantaged in resource allocation. The disadvantage manifests itself in many fronts, particularly feminised poverty and HIV infection. Since the effects of the global financial crisis are not gender-neutral, women and girls, as vulnerable groups, must be protected by gender-responsive budgeting. This paper argues that while Botswana has chalked up some successes in gender equality initiatives, sufficiently instanced by the ratification of gender conventions, public budgeting largely lacks gender responsiveness. Since literature advocating for gender-responsive budgeting in Botswana is lacking, this paper attempts to fill the gap and encourage debate. Finally, it argues that such budgeting will ensure equality in resource allocation and also empower women.