Women’s Participation in Household Decision Making in Indonesia: A Structural Equation Approach

Radheeka Jayasundera, University of Southern California

Measures of decision-making power are a central component in understanding how differences in preference translate into differences in welfare outcomes in the household. A number of studies have examined women's decision-making power in various spheres, including day-to-day household purchases, healthcare, family planning, child wellbeing, etc. Following the empirical studies in this genre, this paper focuses on dynamics within couples in Indonesia in 2007. Previous studies have employed behavioral outcome variables and multivariate regression analyses to investigate the determinants of women’s decision-making power in the household. However, these methods are inadequate in measuring latent constructs such as "power." I use structural equation modeling (SEM) and factor analysis, which are frequently used to uncover underlying patterns of relationships between outcome variables. These methods reduce error in data, detect anomalous items and achieve parsimony and conceptual clarity.