Women experience many motivational drivers for improving sanitation, but it is unclear how women's role in household decision making affects whether a household opts for better sanitation. We analyzed the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/2009 with a representative sample of 4,556 married and cohabiting women to examine the association between women's decision making power in relation to that of partners and the type of sanitation facilities used by household members. The independent effects of respondents’ education, employment status, and socioeconomic status on the type of sanitation facilities were also explored. The direct measurement of women's ability to influence sanitation practice was not available. To address this problem, this study used proxy measures of women's decision making power in the household. The results of this study revealed that women's decision making power for major household purchases was positively associated with households having better sanitation (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that increased gender equity could potentially have spillover effects that result in more households opting to improve their sanitation conditions.
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Research Article|
February 06 2016
Understanding women's decision making power and its link to improved household sanitation: the case of Kenya
Mitsuaki Hirai;
1Milken Institute School of Public Health, Department of Global Health, The George Washington University, 950 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20052 USA
E-mail: mhirai@gwu.edu
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Jay P. Graham;
Jay P. Graham
2Milken Institute School of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Department of Global Health, The George Washington University, 950 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20052 USA
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John Sandberg
John Sandberg
1Milken Institute School of Public Health, Department of Global Health, The George Washington University, 950 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20052 USA
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Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development (2016) 6 (1): 151–160.
Article history
Received:
September 01 2015
Accepted:
December 28 2015
Citation
Mitsuaki Hirai, Jay P. Graham, John Sandberg; Understanding women's decision making power and its link to improved household sanitation: the case of Kenya. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 1 March 2016; 6 (1): 151–160. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2016.128
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