Intrahousehold Decision Making and Fertility Choices in Rural Senegal and Uganda
(2024) Feminist Economics — p. 1-38 (2024)
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- Feminist economic approaches have transformed mainstream economic analysis to better account for intrahousehold decision making. To quantify decision making, studies resort to self-reported survey-based measures, derived from questions directed to household members, or proxy-variable methods. This study uses a choice experiment, a stated preference method, implemented in rural Senegal and Uganda and specifically distinguishes between individual and household choices to analyze spouses’ preferences on fertility and child raising and calculate a decision-making coefficient. Findings show individual fertility preferences of men and women cannot substitute for householdlevel choices, and intrahousehold decision making concerning fertility and child raising is region specific. While in Uganda household fertility choices reflect a balance between the spouses’ fertility preferences, in Senegal these choices seem more dominated by the husband’s preference. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the adequate decision-making unit when designing family planning and child-centered programs and of using a region-specific approach.
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Van Hoyweghen, K., Van den Broeck, G., & Maertens, M. (2024). Intrahousehold Decision Making and Fertility Choices in Rural Senegal and Uganda. Feminist Economics, 1-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2024.2413370 (Original work published 2024)