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Is Women's Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Egypt?

Author

Listed:
  • Rania Salem

    (University of Toronto)

  • Yuk Fai Cheong
  • Kristin VanderEnde
  • Kathryn M. Yount

Abstract

Whether work is performed for household members’ consumption (subsistence work) or for sale to others (market work), it may be an enabling resource for women’s agency, or their capacity to define and act upon their goals. The present paper asks: Do women who engage in market work have higher agency in the three domains of economic decision-making, freedom of movement, and equitable gender role attitudes, compared to those who engage in subsistence work and those who do not work? To address this question, we leverage data from a probability sample of ever-married women in rural Egypt. We use latent-variable structural equation models with propensity score matching to estimate the influence of women’s work on three domains of their agency. We find no effect on gender attitudes or decision-making. However, women’s subsistence and market work are associated with increasingly higher factor means for freedom of movement, compared to not working.

Suggested Citation

  • Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kristin VanderEnde & Kathryn M. Yount, 2015. "Is Women's Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Egypt?," Working Papers 922, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:922
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kathryn Yount & Sarah Zureick-Brown & Rania Salem, 2014. "Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s Economic and Non-Economic Activities in Minya, Egypt," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1069-1099, June.
    2. Anderson, Siwan & Eswaran, Mukesh, 2009. "What determines female autonomy? Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 179-191, November.
    3. Kabeer, Naila, 2001. "Conflicts Over Credit: Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Loans to Women in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-84, January.
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