Income Generation and Intra-Household Decision Making: A Gender Analysis for Nigeria

Abstract

Even without a comprehensive household survey with detailed consumption and income data, it is still often feasible to conduct useful empirical work on gender and intra-household allocations. This paper documents the extent to which income generation affects decision making within households in Nigeria, using the 2003 CWIQ surveys implemented in eight Nigerian states. While these surveys do not have income and consumption data, they do provide information on labor force participation and whether household members generate income for the household, as well as data on who makes the decisions within the household for a wide range of expenditure categories. This type of data can be used to assess, using simple statistical and econometric methods, the impact of income generation by women on their decision power within the household.Gender; Labor Income; Intra-household allocations; Decision Power