Women's empowerment and food consumption: Evidence from female-headed households in Tanzania

Abstract

Despite the growing recognition of women's increasing role in the household and corresponding empowerment programs in sub-Saharan Africa, intensive research on the relationship between women's influence and household food consumption is minimal. Using the most recent (2017–2018) national household survey data from Tanzania, this study examined the influence of women's empowerment on household food consumption. First, we compared the monthly consumption of eight food categories between female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs) using both descriptive statistics and the propensity score matching (PSM) method. Furthermore, we adopted the two-stage Linear Expenditure System and Almost Ideal Demand System model (LES-AIDS) to estimate income and price elasticities for the two household types. The results show that FHHs consume bread and cereals, fish, oils and fats, vegetables, and confectionery (sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, etc.) more than MHHs. Moreover, FHHs have a significantly higher income elasticity of demand for all food groups than MHHs. They are also more price elastic than MHHs in meat, fish, oils, fats, sugar, jam, honey, chocolate, etc.