Wives' time allocation and intrahousehold power: evidence from the Philippines

Abstract

Utilizing a rich survey data collected in the Southern part of the Philippines, this paper examines the time allocation of wives within the collective household framework by investigating not only the role of socioeconomic factors but also the influence of various intrahousehold power indicators. Analysis of autonomy and finality of intrahousehold decisions discloses that decisions are not unilaterally decided by a single household member, a result which confirms the prediction of collective household framework. Adopting a simple test procedure, this paper also examines which of the competing household models, collective or unitary, best describes these Philippine time-use data. Testing results lend support to the validity of the collective household framework.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the Japanese Government for financial support and the Carolina Population Center-University of North Carolina for making the data used in this paper available. Insights and comments of Professor Kenn Ariga are also gratefully acknowledged.