Gender Socialisation, Relationship Training, and More - 6-Percentage-Point Increase in Women's Participation in Household Decision-making

Strategy researched

Three-layered interventions involving (i) gender socialisation and relationship training, (ii) financial literacy and household budget management, and (iii) couples' counselling on modern contraceptive methods with vouchers available

Impact achieved

In the arm that received all 3 interventions, women's participation in general household decision-making increased by about 6 percentage points, and participation of women in decisions pertaining to husbands' earnings increased significantly. Statistically significant improvements in female participation in financial decision-making were noted in the arm that received the structured financial literacy education programme plus the programme on gender socialisation, with increases of over 5 percentage points compared to the control arm.

Country of study

Nigeria

Research methodology

4-arm cluster RCT with 1,064 couples

Journal

Development in Practice; 2021

Journal paper title and link

A couple-based gender transformative intervention to enhance women's participation in household decision-making: results from a cluster randomised control trial in Ibadan, Nigeria

Excerpt from Abstract

"Women's empowerment is recognised as an important strategy to foster gender equality. Its achievement requires an approach that targets normative and structural drivers of gender inequality. Nigerian women continue to face socio-economic challenges and are unable to exercise their agency within their homes. We evaluated a cluster-randomised control trial that aimed to increase women's household decision-making by working with couples in three critical areas: spousal relations, and financial and reproductive decision-making. The trend overall suggested gains in some domains of decision-making but the results were mixed."