Economic bargaining power and financial decision-making among married and cohabitant women in South Africa

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics, by survey round.

	2008	2010	2012	Panel
Age (years)	46.38 (0.24)	48.81 (0.24)	50.58 (0.24)	48.59 (0.14)***
Female (%)				61.05 (0.053)
Education (%):
None	16.87 (0.71)	16.28 (0.70)	16.50 (0.70)	16.55 (0.40)***
Primary	31.50 (0.88)	31.68 (0.88)	31.31 (0.88)	31.50 (0.51)
Some secondary	31.50 (0.88)	31.46 (0.88)	31.24 (0.88)	31.40 (0.51)
Grade 12	12.18 (0.62)	10.57 (0.58)	9.03 (0.54)	10.60 (0.33)
Tertiary	7.94 (0.51)	10.02 (0.57)	11.92 (0.61)	9.96 (0.33)
Education (years)	7.16 (0.08)	7.26 (0.08)	7.32 (0.08)	7.25 (0.05)
Race (%):
African				72.96 (0.84)
Coloured				19.40 (0.75)
Asian				1.83 (0.25)
White				5.81 (0.44)
Headship (%)	44.93 (0.95)	50.40 (0.95)	52.91 (0.95)	49.42 (0.55)***
Married (%)	82.83 (0.72)	84.95 (0.68)	86.85 (0.64)	84.87 (0.39)***
Relationship duration (years)	18.71 (0.25)	20.52 (0.25)	22.43 (0.25)	20.55 (0.14)***
Household size	4.92 (0.04)	5.24 (0.05)	5.20 (0.05)	5.12 (0.02)***
Sample (n)	2,737	2,737	2,737	8,211

Notes: Results are for a balanced panel of adults who are either married or living together. Standard errors are reported in parentheses. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table 2 . Economic bargaining power, by gender and survey round.

	Year	Male	Female	Total	Sample (n)
Labour force participation (%)	2008	74.02	61.43	66.33	2,712***
	2010	62.35	45.08	51.82	2,717***
	2012	63.15	47.38	53.53	2,729***
	Panel	66.49	51.29	57.21	8,158***
Employed (yes/no)	2008	64.17	39.46	49.07	2,712***
	2010	54.62	32.22	40.96	2,717***
	2012	55.16	34.17	42.35	2,729***
	Panel	57.97	35.28	44.12	8,158***
Unemployment rate (%)	2008	13.31	35.75	26.01	1,799***
	2010	12.40	28.51	20.95	1,408***
	2012	12.64	27.88	20.87	1,461***
	Panel	12.81	31.20	22.87	4,668***
Employment income (ZAR) – total	2008	2,539.32	774.51	1,461.08	2,735***
	2010	2,635.30	1,046.41	1,664.54	2,735***
	2012	2,692.06	1,018.24	1,670.15	2,737***
	Panel	2,622.27	946.39	1,598.61	8,207***
Employment income (ZAR) – economically active	2008	3,420.05	1,254.08	2,193.22	1,822***
	2010	4,210.15	2,297.72	3,190.28	1,427***
	2012	4,257.77	2,140.23	3,111.79	1,469***
	Panel	3,932.18	1,833.18	2,780.80	4,718***
Employment income (ZAR) – employed	2008	3,990.90	1,978.93	3,002.30	1,331***
	2010	4,842.77	3,274.46	4,090.32	1,113***
	2012	4,888.82	2,990.30	3,954.34	1,156***
	Panel	4,544.51	2,700.21	3,644.39	3,600***

Notes: Results are for a balanced panel of adults who are either married or living together. Unemployment rates are calculated according to the broad definition. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table 3. Financial decision-making responsibility and power, by gender and survey round.

	Male	Female	Total
2008:
Yes	96.99	90.06	92.76***
Sample (n)	1,066	1,671	2,737
Joint	9.57	39.93	27.57***
Main	90.43	60.07	72.43
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00
Sample (n)	1,034	1,505	2,539
2010:
Yes	91.65	92.99	92.76
Sample (n)	1,066	1,671	2,737
Joint	21.29	25.93	24.14***
Main	78.71	74.07	75.86
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00
Sample (n)	977	1,554	2,531
2012:
Yes	95.77	97.00	96.52*
Sample (n)	1,066	1,671	2,737
Joint	12.63	28.87	22.60***
Main	87.37	71.13	77.40
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00
Sample (n)	1,021	1,621	2,642
Panel:
Yes	94.80	93.35	93.92***
Sample (n)	3,198	5,013	8,211
Joint	14.38	31.45	24.74***
Main	85.62	68.55	75.26
Total	100.00	100.00	100.00
Sample (n)	3,032	4,680	7,712

Notes: Results are for a balanced panel of adults who are either married or living together. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table 4. Decision-making transitions.

		No	Yes	Total	Sample (n)
(a) Transitions in financial decision-making responsibility, by gender
Male	No	12.40	87.60	100.00	121
	Yes	5.92	94.08	100.00	2,011
Female	No	13.78	86.22	100.00	283
	Yes	4.18	95.82	100.00	3,059
Total	No	13.37	86.63	100.00	404
	Yes	4.87	95.13	100.00	5,070
		None	Joint	Main	Total	Sample (n)
(b) Transitions in financial decision-making power, by gender
Male	None	12.40	19.83	67.77	100.00	121
	Joint	7.17	15.96	76.87	100.00	307
	Main	5.69	15.49	78.81	100.00	1,704
Female	None	13.78	26.50	59.72	100.00	283
	Joint	5.48	29.88	64.64	100.00	1,004
	Main	3.55	24.14	72.31	100.00	2,055
Total	None	13.37	24.50	62.13	100.00	404
	Joint	5.87	26.62	67.51	100.00	1,311
	Main	4.52	20.22	75.26	100.00	3,759
		Joint	Main	Total	Sample (n)
(c) Transitions in joint and main financial decision-making, by gender
Male	Joint	17.19	82.81	100.00	1,234
	Main	16.43	83.57	100.00	3,589
Female	Joint	31.61	68.39	100.00	285
	Main	25.03	74.97	100.00	1,607
Total	Joint	28.28	71.72	100.00	949
	Main	21.18	78.82	100.00	1,982

Note: Results are for a balanced panel of adults who are either married or living together.

Table 5. Gender as a predictor of financial decision-making responsibility and power.

		Decision-making power
	Decision-making responsibility	Joint vs none	Main vs none	Main vs joint
A. Pooled
Female (yes/no)	1.462** (0.214)	2.054*** (0.327)	1.315* (0.200)	0.662*** (0.048)
Sample (N)	7,534	2,099	5,774	7,195
Wald chi^2	408.27***	222.03***	432.72***	672.42***
B. Random effects (RE)
Female (yes/no)	1.526** (0.273)	2.572*** (0.584)	1.358** (0.252)	0.659*** (0.048)
Sample (N)	7,534	2,099	5,774	7,195
Wald chi^2	266.04***	107.08***	266.17***	606.73***
LR chi^2	28.22***	26.81***	17.27***	0.56

Notes: Odds ratios. Results are for a balanced panel of adults who are either married or living together. Regression models control for age, age square, years of education, race, headship, marital status, relationship duration, household size, place of residence (geo-type) and survey round. Robust standard errors (SE) for the odds ratios (OR) are reported in parentheses. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table 6. Labour market outcomes and women’s financial decision-making power.

	Labour force participation (%)	Employed (%)		Employment income (ZAR)
	Joint	Main	Joint	Main	Joint	Main
Total	50.10	51.52	32.85	37.55***	814.73	1,054.05**
Sample (n)	1,461	3,187	1,461	3,187	1,472	3,208
Economically active			65.57	72.89***	1,614.12	2,033.32**
Sample (n)			732	1,642	743	1,663
Employed					2,498.53	2,824.91
Sample (n)					480	1,197

Notes: Results are for F-tests applied to the pooled balanced panel of women who are either married or living together. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table 7. Labour market outcomes as predictors of women’s financial decision-making power.

	Labour force participation (yes/no)			Employed (yes/no)			Employment income (ZAR)
	Pooled	Random effects (RE)	Fixed effects (FE)	Pooled	Random effects (RE)	Fixed effects (FE)	Pooled	Random effects (RE)	Fixed effects (FE)
Total	1.208** (0.093)	1.212** (0.096)	1.155 (0.140)	1.287*** (0.097)	1.295*** (0.101)	1.254* (0.156)	1.016 (0.012)	1.016 (0.014)	1.028 (0.020)
Sample (N)	4,331	4,331	2,373	4,331	4,331	2,373	4,361	4,361	2,401
Wald chi^2 / F-test	307.64***	292.61***	10.08***	315.46***	298.55***	10.19***	304.32***	284.79***	9.84***
LR chi^2		1.19			1.24			1.21
Hausman chi^2			80.42***			79.83***			73.72***
Economically active				1.282** (0.139)	1.287** (0.142)	1.277 (0.287)	1.017 (0.014)	1.018 (0.015)	1.032 (0.023)
Sample (N)				2,272	2,272	924	2,302	2,302	936
Wald chi^2 / F-test				167.31***	153.44***	4.28***	164.15***	149.00***	4.30***
LR chi^2					0.27			0.34
Hausman chi^2						18.44			17.12
Employed							1.000 (0.000)	1.000 (0.000)	–
Sample (N)							1,617	1,617
Wald chi^2 / F-test							115.94***	100.48***
LR chi^2								0.00
Hausman chi^2

Notes: Odds ratios. Outcome is main (=1) versus joint (=0) financial decision-making status. Results are for a balanced panel of women who are either married or living together. Regression models control for age, age square, years of education, race, headship, marital status, relationship duration, household size, place of residence (geo-type) and survey round. Robust (pooled/random effects) or jack knife (fixed effects) standard errors (SE) for the odds ratios (OR) are reported in parentheses. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.

Table A1. Predictors of selection bias.

		Women
	Total	Total	Economically active	Employed
	OR (SE)	OR (SE)	OR (SE)	OR (SE)
Employed (yes/no)	1.089 (0.040)**	1.068 (0.051)	0.921 (0.063)	–
Employment income (R ‘000)	–	–	–	0.999 (0.000)
Age (years)	1.008 (0.002)***	1.004 (0.003)	1.006 (0.004)	1.002 (0.005)
Female (%)	1.581 (0.062)***	–	–	–
Education (years)	1.011 (0.004)**	1.014 (0.006)**	1.017 (0.009)*	1.019 (0.011)*
Race (comparison = African):
Coloured	1.136 (0.053)***	1.226 (0.079)***	1.213 (0.103)**	1.204 (0.119)*
Asian	0.608 (0.070)***	0.660 (0.104)***	0.752 (0.172)	0.800 (0.215)
White	0.404 (0.030)***	0.369 (0.037)***	0.310 (0.044)***	0.359 (0.055)***
Headship	1.072 (0.039)*	0.976 (0.048)	0.964 (0.067)	0.962 (0.080)
Married	2.189 (0.097)***	2.390 (0.141)***	2.068 (0.157)***	1.032 (0.005)***
Relationship duration (years)	1.018 (0.002)***	1.022 (0.003)***	1.035 (0.004)***	2.065 (0.201)***
Household size	0.988 (0.005)**	1.003 (0.008)	1.036 (0.014)**	1.073 (0.020)***
Wave (comparison = 2008):
2010	1.060 (0.045)	1.079 (0.062)	1.038 (0.083)	1.167 (0.112)
2012	0.891 (0.036)***	0.885 (0.049)**	0.742 (0.055)***	0.879 (0.079)
Geo-type (comparison = traditional):
Urban	0.842 (0.036)***	0.830 (0.047)***	0.849 (0.066)**	0.808 (0.080)**
Farms	1.172 (0.070)***	1.206 (0.096)**	1.216 (0.136)*	1.205 (0.159)
Sample (n)	15,516	8,775	4,716	3,225
Wald chi^2	1,111.45***	669.40***	410.93***	278.83***

Notes: Results are for the pooled sample of adults who are either married or living together. Outcome is being in the balanced panel (=1) or not (=0). Robust standard errors (SE) for the odds ratios (OR) are reported in parentheses. Statistical significance ***p < 0.01; **p < 0.05; *p < 0.10.