It Takes Two (To Make Things Right) : Women's Empowerment and Couple Concordance in South Asia

This paper empirically assesses the relevance of women’s agency for family health and domestic violence outcomes in South Asia. It discerns three forms of agency by considering how decisions are taken within the household and highlights differences in the intensity of the correlation between these forms of agency and household members’ well-being. Decision-making reports are matched by both spouses and classified as: (i) the wife participates in decisions, and both husband and wife agree about her role; (ii) the wife reports participating in decisions, but the husband does not recognize her role, that is, she takes power; and (iii) the husband reports that the wife participates in decisions, but the wife does not, that is, he gives power. Using cross-sectional data from six South Asian countries, the paper finds that the association between all forms of women’s agency and the health of their children is statistically significant and economically meaningful. In the cases of being underweight, used prenatal help, and modern use of contraception, and especially in the case of domestic violence, the spousal agreement variant of women’s agency has stronger beneficial correlations vis-à -vis the taking power or giving power variants. The paper emphasizes the importance of spousal support and the contextual component of women’s agency in South Asia, where social norms mediate women’s decision making and outcomes.