Education, Employment and Women’say in Household Decision Making In Pakistan

Abstract

This research uses data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey 2007-2008 to conduct an empirical analysis of the relationship between education, employment and women’s household empowerment in Pakistan. Household empowerment is measured through married women’s say in the decisions pertaining to family planning and decisions concerning expenditure on food, clothing, medical and recreation. The paper uses the linear probability model with fixed effects. In order to address the reverse causality between employment and empowerment, district cotton production was used as an instrument for employment. The study finds that education and employment have a significant effect on women’s say in certain household decisions but not in all of them. Moreover, in most of the decisions, employment in non-agriculture increases women’s say as opposed to employment in agriculture. Furthermore, the study finds that employment empowers women mainly in expenditure related decisions and not in the decision pertaining to family planning.