Henrik Wiig, Ph.D.
Department of International Studies
Norwegian Institute of Urban and Regional Research
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
International Food Policy Research Institute Conference Room 8A
Abstract:
The Peruvian government enforced joint ownership between spouses to agricultural land in the formalization process even though the civil code of the country states guarantees individual ownership of inherited property. The share is now 57 percent, considerably higher than the 12 percent found in the LSMS 2000 survey calculated by Deere et al (2001). We investigate whether this redistribution of assets from men to women leads to empowerment through improving her threat point of divorce (Manser and Brown, 1980). Both spouses where interviewed separately in 1280 Peruvian highland household on intra-household decision making. Methodologically, we explore a specific exogenous feature of the titling process dating back to the comprehensive land reform of the 1960ies, which implies titled and untitled communities coexist within the same district and hence local gender culture. Simple comparisons indicate joint titling has given women a larger say in about 30 percent of types of decisions being made. Taking potential endogeneity into account, a Propensity Score Matching model as well as Tobit regressions using community and household controls also indicate a significant empowerment effect. In addition, we ran experiments in a subset of 225 households to create an empowerment indicator reflecting whether joint choices where closer to his or her previous individual choices. Both quantitative and qualitative data disclose a discrepancy between women’s secluded public life and her stronger position within the household where she tends to control the economy.
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