[N(poster)] ポスターセッション

英語

[1O10] Influence of Women’s Intrahousehold Decision-Making on Household Expenditure for Primary Education in Malawi

*Yudai ISHII¹ (1. Kobe University)

キーワード：

Women's Intrahousehold Decision-Making、Primary Education、Malawi

Over the past few decades, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has significantly expanded access to primary education. However, ensuring that children stay in school and complete their education remains a persistent challenge. In Malawi, although Free Primary Education (FPE) policies have increased enrollment, survival rates remain low compared to other SSA countries. Financial constraints remain the leading cause of dropout, alongside early marriage, illness, and child labor.

Intrahousehold decision-making regarding educational spending plays a critical role in children’s continuation in primary school. Although the link between women’s intrahousehold decision-making and household expenditure on education has been widely examined, existing studies have largely overlooked how culturally embedded norms shape this relationship.

This study focuses on Malawi, where gendered decision-making dynamics show extreme patterns. Malawian women have some of the lowest levels of decision-making power in Eastern and Southern Africa. Additionally, Malawi’s marital residence patterns, including patrilocal, matrilocal, and neolocal arrangements, create variation in household power structures. These variations make Malawi a compelling case for studying how intrahousehold decision-making shapes private spending on education.

This study investigates the influence of women’s intrahousehold decision-making on household expenditure for children’s primary education in Malawi, where gendered power relations differ across matrilocal, patrilocal, and neolocal residence norms. Drawing on data from the 2019 Malawi Integrated Household Survey, a three-level hierarchical model was employed to capture variations at the individual, community, and district levels.

Quantitative findings reveal a positive association between women’s intrahousehold decision-making and household expenditure on primary education, with community-level residence norms moderating this relationship. These results underscore the importance of incorporating both gender dynamics and cultural contexts into analyses of household investment in education.