Income Under Female versus Male Control: Hypotheses from a Theory of Gender Stratification and Data from the Third World

Blumberg, Rae Lesser

doi:10.4135/9781483325415.n5

Cited by 130 publications

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“…Thus, this observation evidently shows that having control over earnings is a significant independent determinant of health care decision making autonomy among women. This finding is consistent with the basic principles of the gender stratification theory which argues that women's economic power determines their access to other kinds of power [34][35][36]. Therefore, having autonomy over their earnings facilitated the attainment of health care decision making autonomy of women in Ghana.…”

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confidence: 77%

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Determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: analysis of 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

Duah¹,

Adisah-Atta²

2017

Res J of Womens Health

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The important role of women's health care decision making autonomy in enhancing the well-being of women and their families cannot be undervalued. As such, this study sought to examine the determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children less than five years in Ghana using the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey dataset. A total of 5076 women were included in the analysis. Results showed that 75% of the Ghanaian women reported exercising health care decision making autonomy either alone (22%) or jointly with their partners (53%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that independent determinants of women's health care decision making autonomy were women's attainment of primary education (OR=1.52, 95%CI 1.1574 to 1.9861), secondary education (OR=1.46, 95% CI 1.1338 to 1.8784) or higher than secondary education (OR=2.20, 95%CI 1.2322 to 3.9547), women's ability to make decisions about their earnings alone (OR=2.42, 95% CI 1.7570 to 3.3391) or jointly with their partners (OR=9.85, 95% CI 6.7215 to 14.4364), and having a partner who has attained primary education (OR=1.5,95%CI 1.0876 to 2.0641) or secondary education (OR=1.5,95%CI 1.1740 to 1.9247). Therefore, encouraging women to pursue education, improving their earnings autonomy whiles promoting education of partners remains a comprehensive way of enhancing women's autonomy in health decision making in order to promote reproductive, maternal and child health. Keywords: Healthcare, decision making, autonomy, women, Ghana © 2017 Adisah-Atta et al; licensee Herbert Publications Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). This permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. IntroductionFemale healthcare decision-making autonomy is an area that has received attention by researchers due to its growing importance from both human rights and healthcare outcomes perspectives. Generally, autonomy can be defined as having the ability to acquire information and arrive at decisions regarding one's own personal problems [1]. Health decision making autonomy is very critical for the health of women. For example, Alemayehu and Meskele [2] noted that the ability of a woman to visit health care facilities and receive treatment is somewhat dependent on their ability to take personal decisions. However, societal norms, culture, gender roles, gender inequality, religious norms and other socio-cultural factors influence the way women live their lives in developing countries [3].Existing studies from developing countries have shown that women's autonomy in health care decisions is related to child's health, women's health, utilization of healthcare services and empowerment amongst others [4][5][6][7][8][9].Similarly, higher risk of malnutrition has been observed from households where women had little or no autonomy in making household decisions [10]. The abili...

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confidence: 77%

“…According to the basic principles of the gender stratification theory [34][35][36], economic autonomy of women will increase their access to other kinds of power including sexual and reproductive health.…”

Section: Determinants Of Women's Decision-making Autonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: analysis of 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

Duah¹,

Adisah-Atta²

2017

Res J of Womens Health

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“…However, this model contains many untested assumptions. One problem with the income side of the equation is that we have evidence that not only the amount of income, but also who controls the income may have different effects on food availability and distribution for children (Blumberg, 1988;Engle, 1993;Engle and Nieves, 1993). A second problem in many studies is the failure to control for differences between working and non-working women, such as marital status, education, and poverty, which may also influence children's nutritional status (Leslie and Paolisso, 1989;Engle, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal employment, child care, and nutritional status of 12–18-month-old children in Managua, Nicaragua

Lamontagne

Engle

Zeitlin

1998

Social Science & Medicine

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Abstract--Relationships among women's employment, child care strategies, and nutritional status of children 12-18 months of age were examined in 80 Nicaraguan households sampled by randomized block design in 10 low income urban communities. Multiple regression analyses showed that children of employed mothers (56%) fared better in weight/height than those whose mothers were not employed, with and without controlling for socioeconomic status and maternal education, paternal financial support, child care adequacy, and sex and age of the child. Children with inadequate alternate child care (care by a preteen or care at the work place) had lower height for age, even controlling for the same variables and for maternal employment. Differences in 10 caregiving behaviors between families as a function of work status of the mother and adequacy of child care were examined. In families with working mothers, caregivers were less likely to be observed washing their hands, suggesting that the positive associations of work for earnings might be due to income rather than improved care. Inadequate care was associated with less food variety, less use of health care, and marginally less handwashing. Inadequate child care, which tends to be associated with informal work, nuclear families and poverty, should be a concern for child welfare.

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“…Beyond the gender bias of inheritance, several studies have shown that gender has an effect on asset accumulation (Bajtelsmit & Bernasek, 1996;Blumberg, 1988;LeBeau, Iipinge, & Conteh, 2004). In SSA, women not only own fewer assets than men (Deere & Doss, 2006;Doss, 2006;LeBeau, et al, 2004), but the assets they own tend to be non-income-producing assets such as pans, cups, brooms, and hoes.…”

Section: Covariates Of Asset Ownership In Ssamentioning

confidence: 99%

Wealth Effects of an Asset-Building Intervention Among Rural Households in Sub-Saharan Africa

Chowa

Masa

Sherraden

2012

Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research

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Income Under Female versus Male Control: Hypotheses from a Theory of Gender Stratification and Data from the Third World

Cited by 130 publications

References 0 publications

Determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: analysis of 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

Determinants of health care decision making autonomy among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: analysis of 2014 Ghana demographic and health survey

Maternal employment, child care, and nutritional status of 12–18-month-old children in Managua, Nicaragua

Wealth Effects of an Asset-Building Intervention Among Rural Households in Sub-Saharan Africa

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