In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples

This paper investigates whether the relative self-esteem level of spouses can lead to within- household competition for inputs and affect economic gender inequality in the home. Using data on smallholder farmer couples in Cote d'Ivoire, the pa...

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Main Authors: Botea, Ioana, Donald, Aletheia, Rouanet, Lea
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/291371602165418378/In-It-to-Win-It-Self-Esteem-and-Income-Earning-among-Couples
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34623
id okr-10986-34623
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-346232022-09-20T00:11:23Z In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples Botea, Ioana Donald, Aletheia Rouanet, Lea AFRICA GENDER POLICY GENDER INNOVATION LAB SELF-ESTEEM SOCIOECONOMIC SKILLS AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT EXPORT CROPS GENDER COGNITIVE SKILLS INEQUALITY LAND RIGHTS WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE This paper investigates whether the relative self-esteem level of spouses can lead to within- household competition for inputs and affect economic gender inequality in the home. Using data on smallholder farmer couples in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper examines the relationship between spouses' self-esteem and income-earning in agriculture. Although the link between own self-esteem and crop income earning is positive, there is a "battle of the sexes" in which one spouse's self-esteem is negatively related to the other's income earning, particularly income earning in higher-value, export-oriented agriculture. Women's outcomes are more sensitive to their own self-esteem (positively) and to their partners' (negatively) than men's. This negative relationship is driven by individuals during middle age, when self-esteem is considered most stable. A key channel through which self-esteem appears to matter is by increasing control over household land, which is a scarce but crucial input to agricultural production. In addition to confirming the importance of noncognitive skills for poverty reduction in rural settings, the findings highlight the importance of their impact on intra- and inter-household inequality, especially in the presence of interlocking market failures constraining the supply of inputs to production. 2020-10-15T21:38:23Z 2020-10-15T21:38:23Z 2020-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/291371602165418378/In-It-to-Win-It-Self-Esteem-and-Income-Earning-among-Couples http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34623 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9431 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Cote d'Ivoire
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AFRICA GENDER POLICY
GENDER INNOVATION LAB
SELF-ESTEEM
SOCIOECONOMIC SKILLS
AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT
EXPORT CROPS
GENDER
COGNITIVE SKILLS
INEQUALITY
LAND RIGHTS
WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE
spellingShingle AFRICA GENDER POLICY
GENDER INNOVATION LAB
SELF-ESTEEM
SOCIOECONOMIC SKILLS
AGRICULTURAL INVESTMENT
EXPORT CROPS
GENDER
COGNITIVE SKILLS
INEQUALITY
LAND RIGHTS
WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE
Botea, Ioana
Donald, Aletheia
Rouanet, Lea
In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
geographic_facet Cote d'Ivoire
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9431
description This paper investigates whether the relative self-esteem level of spouses can lead to within- household competition for inputs and affect economic gender inequality in the home. Using data on smallholder farmer couples in Cote d'Ivoire, the paper examines the relationship between spouses' self-esteem and income-earning in agriculture. Although the link between own self-esteem and crop income earning is positive, there is a "battle of the sexes" in which one spouse's self-esteem is negatively related to the other's income earning, particularly income earning in higher-value, export-oriented agriculture. Women's outcomes are more sensitive to their own self-esteem (positively) and to their partners' (negatively) than men's. This negative relationship is driven by individuals during middle age, when self-esteem is considered most stable. A key channel through which self-esteem appears to matter is by increasing control over household land, which is a scarce but crucial input to agricultural production. In addition to confirming the importance of noncognitive skills for poverty reduction in rural settings, the findings highlight the importance of their impact on intra- and inter-household inequality, especially in the presence of interlocking market failures constraining the supply of inputs to production.
format Working Paper
author Botea, Ioana
Donald, Aletheia
Rouanet, Lea
author_facet Botea, Ioana
Donald, Aletheia
Rouanet, Lea
author_sort Botea, Ioana
title In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
title_short In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
title_full In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
title_fullStr In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
title_full_unstemmed In It to Win It? Self-Esteem and Income-Earning among Couples
title_sort in it to win it? self-esteem and income-earning among couples
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/291371602165418378/In-It-to-Win-It-Self-Esteem-and-Income-Earning-among-Couples
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34623
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