Female participation in decision making in agricultural households in Kenya: Empirical findings

Abstract

Survey data for this paper were collected in a rural district in Kenya between December 2000 and January 2001. The main objective was to identify the factors determining female participation in household decision making. Our results suggest that bargaining models and resource theory cannot be applied in a society where customarily determined sex and social stratification systems place males higher than females and determine that only men make major decisions. Our results support the hypothesis that cultural theory is more significant than bargaining models or resource theories in determining women's participation in decision making in rural Kenya.