Intrahousehold Resource Allocation and Women’s Bargaining Power: New Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract

By using data from a relatively recent nationally representative survey of Bangladesh, this paper investigates the relationship between intrahousehold resource allocation and women's bargaining power. Along with the two regularly used bargaining power indicators, viz. resources brought at marriage and earned incomes by men and women, an index of empowerment has also been constructed using the information on various social, economic and cultural practices under which women operate to find out if their improved position can have any significant influence on household budgetary allocations. Regression results reveal significant differential effects of men‟s and women's incomes and assets on the budget shares of different goods while the women empowerment index also registers statistical significance in most cases. Therefore, in contrast to the so-called common preference or the unitary model of household behavior the evidence seems to suggest that women's bargaining power and improved empowerment do influence intrahousehold resource allocation.