Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
This working paper reports on a study using Egyptian survey data to determine whether the effect of women's work on their status is mediated by the material transactions that accompany marriage. This perspective posits that marriage payments made to the bride, as well as assets she herself brings to the marriage, enhance her bargaining position. Analysis of the 2006 Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey panel data is used to explore the associations between women’s labor market activity, earnings, absolute and proportional marriage payments, and a measure of women’s status within marriage, namely their decisionmaking power. Consistent with the existing literature, this report finds that the labor-value and modernization perspectives are refuted by the ELMPS data. The bargaining perspective is only partially supported by the data, and the author considers some of the social and legal barriers to the operation of the bargaining model in the final section of the paper.
DOI
10.31899/pgy2.1078
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Salem, Rania. 2011. "Women's economic resources and bargaining in marriage: Does Egyptian women's status depend on earnings or marriage payments?" Gender and Work in the MENA Region Working Paper no. 18. Cairo: Population Council.
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