Do Economics Trump Culture? Effects of Women's Work and Relative Economic Resources on Married Women's Authority in Household Decisionmaking in Jordan

The effects of work on women's household decisionmaking authority have been documented in many empirical studies. However, few studies have explored its effects in a social context where women's labor force participation is low. Little is known about the conditions through which women's work enhances authority within the household. Using 2007 Jordan Demographic and Health Survey I explore the effects of women's work and relative economic resources on their authority in household decisionmaking net of culturally relevant sources of power. The country has enhanced its human capital base, developed new industries and promoted women's work, but it also remains a bastion of traditional gender norms. Drawing on resource theory, gender performance theories, theories of institutionalized patriarchy and bargaining approaches, I argue that women's work and relative economic resources matter more for some dimensions of household decisionmaking than others. Engagement in the labor market confers exclusive control over matters of personal wellbeing, while enhancing women's leverage to participate in family management decisions. However, only women in nuclear households experience the benefits of productive work on authority in household decisionmaking. Results confirm the multidimensionality of household decisionmaking power, and a possible causal effect of work participation. While individual factors matter, regardless of women's economic resources and other characteristics, living in regions with high socio-economic development and less patriarchal norms is associated with greater decisionmaking authority. The results of this research contribute to our understanding of women's empowerment by empirically demonstrating the conditions under which economic resources may trump cultural scripts, when cultural factors may matter more, and when the two interact

Comparing summary measures of quality of care for family planning in Haiti, Malawi, and Tanzania.

Measuring quality of care in family planning services is essential for policymakers and stakeholders. However, there is limited agreement on which mathematical approaches are best able to summarize quality of care. Our study used data from recent Service Provision Assessment surveys in Haiti, Malawi, and Tanzania to compare three methods commonly used to create summary indices of quality of care-a simple additive, a weighted additive that applies equal weights among domains, and principal components analysis (PCA) based methods. The PCA results indicated that the first component cannot sufficiently summarize quality of care. For each scoring method, we categorized family planning facilities into low, medium, and high quality and assessed the agreement with Cohen's kappa coefficient between pairs of scores. We found that the agreement was generally highest between the simple additive and PCA rankings. Given the limitations of simple additive measures, and the findings of the PCA, we suggest using a weighted additive method

Percent of severe stunting and dietary diversity in Hispaniola by key explanatory variables.

<p>Percent of severe stunting and dietary diversity in Hispaniola by key explanatory variables.</p

Benefits of biodiverse marine resources to child nutrition in differing developmental contexts in Hispaniola

<div><p>There is an urgent need for an improved empirical understanding of the relationship among biodiverse marine resources, human health and development outcomes. Coral reefs are often at this intersection for developing nations in the tropics—an ecosystem targeted for biodiversity conservation and one that provides sustenance and livelihoods for many coastal communities. To explore these relationships, we use the comparative development contexts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. We combine child nutrition data from the Demographic Health Survey with coastal proximity and coral reef habitat diversity, and condition to empirically test human benefits of marine natural resources in differing development contexts. Our results indicate that coastal children have a reduced likelihood of severe stunting in Haiti but have increased likelihoods of stunting and reduced dietary diversity in the Dominican Republic. These contrasting results are likely due to the differential in developed infrastructure and market access. Our analyses did not demonstrate an association between more diverse and less degraded coral reefs and better childhood nutrition. The results highlight the complexities of modelling interactions between the health of humans and natural systems, and indicate the next steps needed to support integrated development programming.</p></div

Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between coral reef habitat diversity and severe stunting among children age less than 5 years, Dominican Republic DHS 2007.

<p>Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between coral reef habitat diversity and severe stunting among children age less than 5 years, Dominican Republic DHS 2007.</p

Proximity of DHS sample clusters with coral reef threat data in Hispaniola.

<p>Green circles show the locations of clusters in the 2005–2006 Haiti (light green) and 2007 Dominican Republic (dark green) DHS Surveys. The integrated local threat to the reef and oceans are indicated, as specified in the figure legend. Coastline without red to yellow do not have coral reefs. There were no areas of low threat along the coast of Hispaniola. Data from MEASURE DHS and WRI, Reefs at Risk Revisited [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0197155#pone.0197155.ref019" target="_blank">19</a>].</p

Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between fish consumption and habitat diversity among children age 6–59 months, Dominican Republic DHS 2007.

<p>Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between fish consumption and habitat diversity among children age 6–59 months, Dominican Republic DHS 2007.</p

Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between fish consumption, coastal proximity and habitat diversity among children age 6–59 months, Haiti DHS 2005–2006.

<p>Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between fish consumption, coastal proximity and habitat diversity among children age 6–59 months, Haiti DHS 2005–2006.</p

Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between coral reef habitat diversity and severe stunting among children age less than 5 years, Haiti DHS 2005–2006.

<p>Estimated odds ratios for the logistic regression model of the relationship between coral reef habitat diversity and severe stunting among children age less than 5 years, Haiti DHS 2005–2006.</p

Pathways in which biodiversity and natural resources contribute to human health and nutrition.

<p>While we are not able to test all of the connections illustrated due to data limitations, we specifically investigate those in white text. Modified from [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0197155#pone.0197155.ref049" target="_blank">49</a>].</p