Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Honors Thesis (Colby Access Only)

Department

Colby College. Economics Dept.

Advisor(s)

Daniel LaFave

Abstract

In a conservative country like Morocco, women are often not afforded many rights. Men are considered the head of the household, but previous research has shown that households do not make decisions as a solitary unit. That is, if a man is the primary decision-maker of a household, he might make different choices than if a woman were in charge. This research explores how a woman’s ability to make her own decisions regarding education, employment, income and marriage is linked to her family’s ability to recover from negative effects of a drought or an increase in food prices. Results demonstrate that in this context, female decision‐making has a detrimental effect on a family’s ability to recover from external shocks. However, recent trends in decision‐making indicate that benefits from female empowerment may become evident in upcoming years.

Comments

Full-text download is restricted to Colby College.

Keywords

gender, female empowerment, decision-making, recovery, shocks

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