Periodic Reporting for period 4 - AfricanWomen (Women in Africa)
Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2025-01-31
The overarching goal of the project is to improve our understanding of processes of discrimination in households, families and societies that contribute to continued low levels of well-being among African women. We consider gender discrimination from two perspectives: a historical angle investigating long-term trends in women's well-being and their drivers, and mechanisms of intra-household resource allocations in present-day Africa, using both economic theory and empirics. These perspectives are complementary, with the historical analysis identifying large forces shaping women's positions and the household-level analysis informing policy-making today.
The historical analysis focuses on colonial Congo, using demographic data, ethnographic information, and data on colonial presence to investigate the impacts of colonial policies on women's lives. Combining this data with recent surveys, we trace the long-term consequences of specific policies. In the second part, we investigate the functioning of households from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. We explore intra-household decision-making and violence theoretically, proposing new perspectives on the functioning of household. Furthermore, we set up a randomized control trial to evaluate the constraints to women’s economic success, husbands’ roles, and the importance of gender norms, in the context of pineapple production in Benin (in partnership with the Belgian Development Agency).
The historical analysis focuses on colonial Congo, using demographic data, ethnographic information, and data on colonial presence to investigate the impacts of colonial policies on women's lives. Combining this data with recent surveys, we trace the long-term consequences of specific policies. In the second part, we investigate the functioning of households from a theoretical and an empirical perspective. We explore intra-household decision-making and violence theoretically, proposing new perspectives on the functioning of household. Furthermore, we set up a randomized control trial to evaluate the constraints to women’s economic success, husbands’ roles, and the importance of gender norms, in the context of pineapple production in Benin (in partnership with the Belgian Development Agency).
Work Package 1: African Women Through History
a) A Gender Perspective on African Economic Development Through History
A primary objective of this sub-project was to build datasets to analyze the long-term evolution of sub-Saharan women’s relative well-being. The main focus was the DR Congo due to the uncovering of remarkable material.
1. Pro-birth Policies and Women’s Fertility During Colonial Times: This study combined information on the birth calendar of women surveyed in the 1970s in the DR Congo with data on their exposure to pro-birth policies, showing higher fertility among targeted women and the critical role of female education by Catholic nuns.
2. Investment in Colonial Education and Persistence in Geographic and Gender Inequalities: This research combined data on education spanning from the 1950s to the 2010s, with information on schools during colonial times and the universe of schools in 2020, showing persistent geographical inequalities affecting women more than men.
3. Women’s Height and Well-being: We compiled a dataset on height for men and women in Africa, finding that women fare better in groups practicing the bride-price, as parents protect daughters against negative income shocks.
b) Family Laws and Women’s Outcomes in SSA
This research combined analyses of formal and informal laws and customs, focusing on three aspects:
1. Judgments by Indigenous Courts in the Congo: We investigated the effects of judgments by indigenous courts on women’s outcomes, revealing harsher sentences for women linked to colonial-era demand for female labor.
2. Role of Religious Conversion in Shaping Gender Norms: We explored how conversion to evangelical churches can serve as an alternative pathway to women's emancipation in patriarchal institutions.
3. Family Laws in Kenya: We examined the impact of the 2010 Constitution on women’s access to land and fertility behaviors.
Work Package 2: Intra-Household Bargaining – Violence and Access to Resources
1. Women’s Empowerment, Marriage, and Violence: We developed a model of violence, showing that better economic opportunities or decreases in divorce costs for women lead to ambiguous effects on violence. In a separate paper (published in World Development), we examined trends in marriage, divorce, and polygamy in Burkina Faso, highlighting the emancipatory trajectories of women.
2. Separate Spheres and Household Cooperation: We developed a delegation model of household decision-making and tested it with first-hand data from an experimental game. In a separate paper we challenged the conventional view on polygamous households, arguing that co-wives may cooperate and unite against the husband, especially when they have low levels of agency.
3. Labor, Nutrition, and Women’s Household Position: Using objective measures of physical effort and nutritional outcomes in Burkina Faso, we compared the workload of men and women, providing an assessment of gendered labor contributions. In a separate paper, we investigated how new labor opportunities (gold mining in Burkina Faso) affect child labor and education for girls and boys. We also designed an RCT to examine how a new economic opportunity affects women’s position within their households. We focused on an intervention that offers women the means to expand pineapple production in Benin. Since one treatment arm involves husbands, we learned whether such inclusion helps leverage husband support. We also investigated discrimination against female producers by workers on their field (“bottom-up discrimination”), using original games designed for this purpose.
a) A Gender Perspective on African Economic Development Through History
A primary objective of this sub-project was to build datasets to analyze the long-term evolution of sub-Saharan women’s relative well-being. The main focus was the DR Congo due to the uncovering of remarkable material.
1. Pro-birth Policies and Women’s Fertility During Colonial Times: This study combined information on the birth calendar of women surveyed in the 1970s in the DR Congo with data on their exposure to pro-birth policies, showing higher fertility among targeted women and the critical role of female education by Catholic nuns.
2. Investment in Colonial Education and Persistence in Geographic and Gender Inequalities: This research combined data on education spanning from the 1950s to the 2010s, with information on schools during colonial times and the universe of schools in 2020, showing persistent geographical inequalities affecting women more than men.
3. Women’s Height and Well-being: We compiled a dataset on height for men and women in Africa, finding that women fare better in groups practicing the bride-price, as parents protect daughters against negative income shocks.
b) Family Laws and Women’s Outcomes in SSA
This research combined analyses of formal and informal laws and customs, focusing on three aspects:
1. Judgments by Indigenous Courts in the Congo: We investigated the effects of judgments by indigenous courts on women’s outcomes, revealing harsher sentences for women linked to colonial-era demand for female labor.
2. Role of Religious Conversion in Shaping Gender Norms: We explored how conversion to evangelical churches can serve as an alternative pathway to women's emancipation in patriarchal institutions.
3. Family Laws in Kenya: We examined the impact of the 2010 Constitution on women’s access to land and fertility behaviors.
Work Package 2: Intra-Household Bargaining – Violence and Access to Resources
1. Women’s Empowerment, Marriage, and Violence: We developed a model of violence, showing that better economic opportunities or decreases in divorce costs for women lead to ambiguous effects on violence. In a separate paper (published in World Development), we examined trends in marriage, divorce, and polygamy in Burkina Faso, highlighting the emancipatory trajectories of women.
2. Separate Spheres and Household Cooperation: We developed a delegation model of household decision-making and tested it with first-hand data from an experimental game. In a separate paper we challenged the conventional view on polygamous households, arguing that co-wives may cooperate and unite against the husband, especially when they have low levels of agency.
3. Labor, Nutrition, and Women’s Household Position: Using objective measures of physical effort and nutritional outcomes in Burkina Faso, we compared the workload of men and women, providing an assessment of gendered labor contributions. In a separate paper, we investigated how new labor opportunities (gold mining in Burkina Faso) affect child labor and education for girls and boys. We also designed an RCT to examine how a new economic opportunity affects women’s position within their households. We focused on an intervention that offers women the means to expand pineapple production in Benin. Since one treatment arm involves husbands, we learned whether such inclusion helps leverage husband support. We also investigated discrimination against female producers by workers on their field (“bottom-up discrimination”), using original games designed for this purpose.
African women through history: The analysis of colonial policies' impacts on targeted individuals is a breakthrough enabled by compiling extensive historical data, including demographic surveys before and after independence and judicial archives of family cases. The quality and granularity of these databases exceed the state of the art. This project fills the gap in quantitative investigations into the question of changes in women’s relative position during the colonial period. We investigate how colonial institutions modified the core social organization of local populations: the family. We examine the role of pro-birth colonial policies in changing reproductive behavior, the long-term benefits of investments in colonial education for women, and how colonial judicial treatment of family conflicts changed women’s relative position.
Intra-household bargaining and women outcomes: With a new model of household decision, we study the strict separation of budgets and responsibilities common in many African households. Instead of viewing this separation as a failure to cooperate, we model it as a delegation equilibrium. This generates new insights on household functioning that we test using experimental games. In studying constraints to female entrepreneurs' economic success, we focus on two aspects. First, the difficulties women face in negotiating contracts and monitoring the labor force they hire (bottom-up discrimination). Another aspect concerns husbands' roles in constraining their wives’ economic success. Using first-hand data, we investigate why some men are reluctant to support their wive’s business development, whether due to fears of changes in bargaining power or transgression of gender norms. Since one treatment arm involves husbands in their wive’s training, we learn whether such inclusion leverages husband support. The model of domestic violence we developed integrates insights from medical studies on how violence changes one’s ability to envision a future outside the current relationship. It provides a framework for understanding why increased outside options for women may paradoxically increase their exposure to violence within their couple.
Intra-household bargaining and women outcomes: With a new model of household decision, we study the strict separation of budgets and responsibilities common in many African households. Instead of viewing this separation as a failure to cooperate, we model it as a delegation equilibrium. This generates new insights on household functioning that we test using experimental games. In studying constraints to female entrepreneurs' economic success, we focus on two aspects. First, the difficulties women face in negotiating contracts and monitoring the labor force they hire (bottom-up discrimination). Another aspect concerns husbands' roles in constraining their wives’ economic success. Using first-hand data, we investigate why some men are reluctant to support their wive’s business development, whether due to fears of changes in bargaining power or transgression of gender norms. Since one treatment arm involves husbands in their wive’s training, we learn whether such inclusion leverages husband support. The model of domestic violence we developed integrates insights from medical studies on how violence changes one’s ability to envision a future outside the current relationship. It provides a framework for understanding why increased outside options for women may paradoxically increase their exposure to violence within their couple.