WOMEN'S INTRAHOUSEHOLD DECISION-MAKING POWER AND THEIR HEALTH STATUS: EVIDENCE FROM RURAL ETHIOPIA

This study examines how various determinants of women's decision-making power affect their health status in rural Ethiopia. It identifies the determinants of women's decision-making power using a qualitative survey conducted over 2008-9, and it investigates their effects on women's health status using the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey panel dataset for the period 1994-2004. The study finds that women's health status is positively associated with their education, the number of brothers they have, whether they live in their birthplace, and whether their age is close to that of their husband. In contrast, women's health is negatively associated with whether they are in a marriage of their choice compared to an arranged marriage. The study concludes that multiple factors originating from context-specific gender norms affect women's decision-making power and have differential effects on women's health outcomes.