Rural women's economic participation and decision-making power in the family: A study on Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

摘要

This dissertation deals with the resources for decision-making power of women in rural Bangladesh. The data for the study were obtained in 1988 though interviews from two villages in Chittagong and Patuakhali districts. A random sample of 100 female Grameen Bank (which emphasizes the implementation of income generating activities for women) borrowers were compared with 100 female non-borrowers. Using bivariate techniques and multiple regression, this research tests the resource theory of marital power (Blood and Wolfe, 1960) and its offshoot, the theory of resources in cultural context (Rodman, 1972).;Decision-making power is measured along four dimensions: household decision-making, control over fertility, use of health care, and voting. The independent variables are: women's borrowing status, total number of years of borrowing, cumulative amount of money borrowed, wife's monthly income generated from bank loan, education of husband and of wife, husband's income, religion, fertility/number of children ever-born, number of sons alive, number of daughters alive, respondent's age, duration of marriage, parental land ownership, family type, study area/region and residential location of wife's parents.;The results show that women's borrowing status, amount of income, and experience and skills gained though years of participation in Grameen Bank significantly influence women's household decision-making. Cultural and kinship factors such as religious beliefs and practices, age, fertility and residential proximity of parents provide the wife with additional resources.;Grameen Bank participants are more active in fertility control decisions than non-participants. No difference is found in health care between the two groups. Voting participation, however, is significant for Hindu religion, and wife's and husband's education for Chittagong sample only.;The primary findings on household decision-making partially support the resource theory. A wife's resources however meager, offset her traditional role. Although the findings do not validate Rodman's theory, they show that the cultural context is an important element in defining what is a resource and what is not. Neither the resource theory nor the cultural context theory alone provides a full explanation of marital power in rural Bangladesh.