IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v40y2021i5d10.1007_s11113-020-09622-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women’s Agency in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia: The Role of Parenthood and Education

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen Friedrich

    (University of Bamberg (Demography))

  • Henriette Engelhardt

    (University of Bamberg (Demography)
    State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg)

  • Florian Schulz

    (State Institute for Family Research at the University of Bamberg
    University of Bamberg (Social Inequality))

Abstract

Women in Middle Eastern and North African countries continue to report low levels of agency, despite their increasing educational attainment and declining fertility rates. We address this paradox by considering how women’s agency is linked to parenthood in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia and how this association is moderated by their level of education. We study three dimensions of instrumental agency: involvement in decision-making, financial autonomy, and freedom of movement using data for married women aged 18–49 from the Integrated Labor Market Panel Surveys: Egypt 2012 (n = 7622), Jordan 2016 (n = 4550), Tunisia 2014 (n = 1480). Results from multivariate regression models of these different dimensions demonstrate that married women who are mothers generally exhibit higher levels of agency than their counterparts who are childless, though this does not hold for every dimension and the strength of the association between parenthood and agency differs by dimension and country. We find a notable exception to this pattern of positive association in the Egyptian sample: parenthood decreases agency among Egyptian women with post-secondary education. Our results suggest that parenthood may only increase women’s agency in settings with deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that imply little education for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Friedrich & Henriette Engelhardt & Florian Schulz, 2021. "Women’s Agency in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia: The Role of Parenthood and Education," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 1025-1059, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:40:y:2021:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-020-09622-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-020-09622-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-020-09622-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-020-09622-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Doan, Rebecca Miles & Bisharat, Leila, 1990. "Female autonomy and child nutritional status: The extended-family residential unit in Amman, Jordan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 783-789, January.
    2. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    3. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Racha Ramadan, 2014. "Individual and Households Determinants of Women Empowerment: Application to the Case of Egypt," Working Papers 867, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    4. Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kathryn M. Yount, 2018. "Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 807-831, April.
    5. Valeria Cetorelli & Tiziana Leone, 2012. "Is fertility stalling in Jordan?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(13), pages 293-318.
    6. World Bank, 2018. "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan," World Bank Publications - Reports 30947, The World Bank Group.
    7. Zakarya Al Zalak & Anne Goujon, 2017. "Exploring the fertility trend in Egypt," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(32), pages 995-1030.
    8. Miles, Rebecca, 2002. "Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 413-427, March.
    9. Ragui Assaad & Moundir Lassassi & Shaimaa Yassin & Rana Hendy, 2020. "Explaining the MENA paradox: Rising educational attainment yet stagnant female labor force participation," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(28), pages 817-850.
    10. Richard Williams, 2012. "Using the margins command to estimate and interpret adjusted predictions and marginal effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 12(2), pages 308-331, June.
    11. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    12. World Bank, 2013. "Opening Doors : Gender Equality and Development in the Middle East and North Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 12550.
    13. World Bank, 2017. "Progress Towards Gender Equality in the Middle East and North Africa Region," World Bank Publications - Reports 28965, The World Bank Group.
    14. Marjorie B. McElroy, 1990. "The Empirical Content of Nash-Bargained Household Behavior," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4), pages 559-583.
    15. Jeni Klugman & Lucia Hanmer & Sarah Twigg & Tazeen Hasan & Jennifer McCleary-Sills & Julieth Santamaria, 2014. "Voice and Agency : Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 19036.
    16. repec:wbk:wbpubs:12552 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Lucia Hanmer & Jeni Klugman, 2016. "Exploring Women's Agency and Empowerment in Developing Countries: Where do we stand?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 237-263, January.
    18. Ragui Assaad & Hanan Nazier & Rasha Ramadan, 2015. "Empowerment is a Community Affair: Community Level Determinants of Married Women's Empowerment in Egypt," Working Papers 959, Economic Research Forum, revised Oct 2015.
    19. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    20. Yount, Kathryn M. & Crandall, AliceAnn & Cheong, Yuk Fai, 2018. "Women’s Age at First Marriage and Long-Term Economic Empowerment in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 124-134.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catherine Bros & Véronique Gille & François Maniquet, 2023. "Female labour, status and decision power," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(358), pages 453-476, April.
    2. Laszlo, Sonia & Grantham, Kate & Oskay, Ecem & Zhang, Tingting, 2020. "Grappling with the challenges of measuring women's economic empowerment in intrahousehold settings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    3. Eunice Williams & Sabu Padmadas & Heini Vaisanen, 2022. "Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(15), pages 415-452.
    4. Peterman, Amber & Schwab, Benjamin & Roy, Shalini & Hidrobo, Melissa & Gilligan, Daniel O., 2021. "Measuring women’s decisionmaking: Indicator choice and survey design experiments from cash and food transfer evaluations in Ecuador, Uganda and Yemen," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Semiray Kasoolu & Ricardo Hausmann & Tim O'Brien & Miguel Angel Santos, 2019. "Female Labor in Jordan: A Systematic Approach to the Exclusion Puzzle," CID Working Papers 365, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Miedema, Stephanie Spaid & Haardörfer, Regine & Girard, Amy Webb & Yount, Kathryn M., 2018. "Women’s empowerment in East Africa: Development of a cross-country comparable measure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 453-464.
    7. Elena Ambrosetti & Aurora Angeli & Marco Novelli, 2021. "Childbearing intentions among Egyptian men and women: The role of gender-equitable attitudes and women’s empowerment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(51), pages 1229-1270.
    8. Raj, Anita & Dey, Arnab & Rao, Namratha & Yore, Jennifer & McDougal, Lotus & Bhan, Nandita & Silverman, Jay G. & Hay, Katherine & Thomas, Edwin E. & Fotso, Jean Christophe & Lundgren, Rebecka, 2024. "The EMERGE framework to measure empowerment for health and development," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(S1).
    9. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    10. Wole Kinati & Elizabeth C. Temple & Derek Baker & Dina Najjar & Reta Hailu, 2024. "Understanding Agency Within Context: The Case of Breeding Cooperatives Program for Transforming Small Ruminant Value Chain in Ethiopia," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(2), pages 21582440241, April.
    11. Annan, Jeannie & Donald, Aletheia & Goldstein, Markus & Gonzalez Martinez, Paula & Koolwal, Gayatri, 2021. "Taking power: Women’s empowerment and household Well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    12. Aurora Angeli & Silvana Salvini, 2022. "Demography of Mediterranean countries: what does it happen in the two shores?," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 76(2), pages 4-12, April-Jun.
    13. Sojin Yu & Feinian Chen & Sonalde Desai, 2023. "Aligning household decision-making with work and education: A comparative analysis of women’s empowerment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 48(19), pages 513-548.
    14. Tansel, Aysit & Keskin, Halil Ibrahim & Ozdemir, Zeynel Abidin, 2020. "Public-private sector wage gap by gender in Egypt: Evidence from quantile regression on panel data, 1998–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    15. Pratley, Pierre, 2016. "Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: A systematic review of evidence from the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 119-131.
    16. Vivian Polar & Jaqueline A. Ashby & Graham Thiele & Hale Tufan, 2021. "When Is Choice Empowering? Examining Gender Differences in Varietal Adoption through Case Studies from Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    17. Irene Selwaness & Caroline Krafft, 2021. "The Dynamics of Family Formation and Women’s Work: What Facilitates and Hinders Female Employment in the Middle East and North Africa?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 533-587, June.
    18. Yamamoto, Yuki & Matsumoto, Ken’ichi & Kawata, Keisuke & Kaneko, Shinji, 2019. "Gender-based differences in employment opportunities and wage distribution in Nepal," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Meltem Ucal & Simge Günay, 2019. "Female employment status: a survey analysis of selected member states of the Arab League," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 373-394, September.
    20. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Esha Sraboni & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2019. "Intrahousehold empowerment gaps in agriculture and children's well‐being in Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 176-203, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:40:y:2021:i:5:d:10.1007_s11113-020-09622-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.