gender norms and factor analysis of attitudes in bangladesh and india (giga)

'Gender Norms and Factor Analysis: A Sociological Reinterpretation'

2014 Wendy Olsen and Nik Loynes

University of Manchester

Women’s Labour Force Participation Fell in India By All Measures 2004-2010.

A stylized fact about India not Bangladesh: INDIA EPW 2012

Gender Norms and Labour Supply in Comparative Context

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Content of Briefing

1. general approaches to measuring attitudes Norms, roles, attitudes, beliefs, desires Agent orientations vs. structures

2. specific issues of gender roles An illustration using sociology

3. Findings: attitudes and employment Comparison DHS 2007 vs. NFHS 2006)

4. Change over time in S. Asian contexts Context-dependent attitude measures Findings for Bangladesh DHS 2006/7

Vs. India NFHS 2005/6

5. Linking change to employment Logistic regression results


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General approaches to measuring attitudesThree Broad Schools of Thought

Norms, roles, attitudes, beliefs, desires

Agent orientations


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A Famous Theory

The theory places India in a particular ‘place’ due to broad social norm tendencies.

India is strong on conservative values but also strong on the self-enhancement impulse that is often (elsewhere) associated with individualism.

ROCCAS, S., SCHWARTZ, S. H. & AMIT, A. 2010. Personal Value Priorities and National Identification. Political Psychology, 31, 393-419.

SCHWARTZ, S. H., MELECH, G., LEHMANN, A., BURGESS, S., HARRIS, M. & OWENS, V. 2001. Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 519-542.

SCHWARTZ, S. H. & RUBEL, T. 2005. Sex differences in value priorities: Cross-cultural and multimethod studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 1010-1028.

SCHWARTZ, S. H., SAGIV, L. & BOEHNKE, K. 2000. Worries and values. Journal of Personality, 68, 309-346.

SCHWARTZ, S. H. & TESSLER, R. C. 1972. TEST OF A MODEL FOR REDUCING MEASURED ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR DISCREPANCIES. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24,225-&.


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Three Broad Schools of Thought

First school: problem of universalistic reductive individualism

Second school: a mixed and confusing terrain, allowing for diversity within the society

Third school: may include GAD, WID, and qualitative…


1) idealised psychometric approaches, e.g. Schwartz, see the World Values Survey

(The alternative is a realist approach, capabilities school and Bourdieuvian ‘domains’ with habitus and doxa in each domain, creating tensions – here we need to test for class-based or ethnic-based differences of the measurement model parameters (group test)

2) eclectic approaches which allow for agency ie freedom of choice and action


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LACKS SOCIAL DIFFERENTIA-TION BY CLASS, GENDER

By contrast, other authors in the ‘gender & development’ school stress gender & inter-class differentiation, contrasts, and inequality. Example:

SUNDARAM, A. & VANNEMAN, R. 2008. Gender differentials in literacy in India: The intriguing relationship with women's labor force participation. World Development, 36, 128-143.


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Intriguing…

CONSERVATIVE VALUES

Poor India low on

“consistency”

SELF-

ENHANCEMENT

VALUES

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Low Differentials of Attitude by Age in These Two Countries (Small Sample Size)

A single regression was used here. The dependent variable from World Values Survey was how strongly do you agree with the statement that “Housewifery is as fulfilling as working for pay’.

+ Country dummy and country interaction effects for age, education and being single. The graph shows the net impact of direct and indirect associations.

Source: World Values Survey Bdesh 2002 and India 2006


01

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20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100

Bangladesh India H

ou

sew

ifery

is n

ot a

s F

ulfi

llin

g a

s W

ork

for

Pa

y

ageGraphs by country

More tendency to criticise the

role of housewife.


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Comparing Bangladesh / IndiaBangladesh 2007

Source: Report on the Demographic and Health Survey, Bangladesh, 2007.


Comparing / India

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India NFHS 2005-6 (All women adults – not only married women)

Change in Con-tent


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Attitudes about the justifiability of beating the wife – Bangladesh, married women only

Source: Report on the Demographic and Health Survey, Bangladesh, 2007.

PERCENT OF WOMEN SAID YESFreq Percent

Beating a wife can be justified if…… Wife goes out without telling the husband 6105.4 20%… Wife neglects children 5189.59 17%… Wife argues with husband 7326.48 24%… Wife refuses to have sex with husband 3357.97 11%


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Attitudes about the justifiability of beating the wife – India – there is more acceptance of the justifiability of wife-beating in India overall than in the Bangladesh sample

Source: women age 16-49 in the National Family and Health Survey of India, 2005-6


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Comparing Germany?Use World Values Survey IBER, P., HUPFELD, J. & MEIER, L. L. 2008.

Personal Values and Relational Models. European Journal of Personality, 22, 609-628. – German data.

BOER, D. & FISCHER, R. 2013. How and When Do Personal Values Guide Our Attitudes and Sociality? Explaining Cross-Cultural Variability in Attitude-Value Linkages.Psychological Bulletin, 139, 1113-1147.

This is nationalistic in orientation and universalistic in its ontology.


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The sociological approach


Agent orientations: Agents have strategies.

It is usual to notice that beliefs and desires are influenced by one’s personal experience

Sociologists and economists assume / assert that norms are cultural and historically developed, creating a dominant, sub-dominant and deviant group norms

Norms are not strict rules, but bulkheads to notice.

Agents have strategies…


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General approaches to measuring attitudes


From a Realist Heterodox School of Thought

We notice indiv. Variation

We measure social norms

We expect to see tension and deviations/deviance

We use qual+quant


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2. specific issues of gender roles

Occupational rigidity and gender stereotyping create labour-market rigidities…e.g. poor women do farming and livestock work but not ‘jobs’

Inside the home there are also gender issues about the right to equal safety and equal voice

A. If labour market is flexible, then adjust the practices to suit the agent’s strategy.

B. If labour market is inflexible, then no adjustment. Sex-stereotyping is a form of inflexibility of the labour market.

Testing this with seasonal change in our new rural survey in 3 areas of N. India and rural areas of B’desh

Which women are the exceptions?

New project! Gender Norms

& Labour in Comparative

Context! Bangladesh & India

compared!


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IndiaPercent Who Disagree

Bangladesh Percent Who Disagree

PUBLIC SPHEREWhen jobs are scarce: Men should have more right to a job than women C001 (disagree = 1, agree or other=0)

PRIVATE SPHEREChild needs a home with a father and a mother D018 (disagree=1, agree or other =0)

1990 46%1995 40%2001 36%2006 20%

1990 3% 1995 15%2001 5%2006 10%

1996 23%2002 17%

1996 2%2002 1%

Table 1: Percentage Disagreeing with Traditional Patriarchal ValuesSource: World Values Survey, various dates.


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In CFA, the Likert scale is taken as a linear measure. Each variable gets a single parameter.

In MPLUS, the Likert scale components each get a separate threshold. This is more flexible.

Either way, the ‘justifiability of wife-beating’ variables do not fit with the ‘attitude to decision making’ variables.

Four Variables Used in a Factor Analysis for Bangladesh DHS 2007

…to estimate the social norm that women and men can equally participate in the economy. This variable has four components.

Who Has: The final say on own health care The final say on making large household

purchases The final say on making household

purchases for daily needs The final say on visits to family or

relatives If respondent (wife) then the indicator takes the value 3.

(19% in 2007 for the last item shown above) If respondent and husband decide together, it takes

value 2 (42%) If respondent and another person (which is rare), it takes

value 1. (7%) If any other decision maker, e.g. husband alone (27% in

2007), or someone else (rare), it takes value 0.


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A policy issue

Low productivity is a concern

Waste?

Our project explores the ‘wide’ definition of labour-market participation, which includes farming and informal sector work,

Vs. the narrow definition focused upon employment = SALARIED + CASUAL.

Joining in the ‘narrow’ part of the market is a progressive step for a woman, and involves more human capital and productivity;

Also more modernity, as it is a role which Western women take up, and Service sector women take up.

Vs. cottage industries where women are hidden indoors, which is in the WIDE but not NARROW labour market.


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3. Attitudes And Employment

SEM approach

Equation 1: Woman’s Labour Supply as a Probit or Logit Outcome.

Equation 2: The Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

The factor for traditional vs. egalitarian (modern) norms existing at social level about women’s appropriate roles goes into Eq. 1.

DHS variables Bangladesh 2007 [and 2011] India NFHS 2005/6 [later, we get 2011

in 2014]


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WVS shows no clear trend over time. But clear countrywise aggregate differences.

Components which are binary at origin and/or when recoded here

India Bangladesh

Jobs scarce: Men should have more right to a job than women (disagree = 1, agree or other=0)

Child needs a home with a father and a mother D018 (disagree=1)*

Marriage is an out-dated institution D022 (agree or it depends = 1, vs. disagree=0; binary indicator)*

1990 46%1995 40%2001 36%2006 20%

1990 3% **1995 15%2001 5%2006 10%

1990 4%1995 23%2001 18%2006 17%

1996 23%2002 17%

1996 2%2002 1%

1996 12%2002 5%


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Regression results Using B’Desh DHS 2007

Model 1: Dep var = Logit of work status. Indep vars = age, age2, educ, rural/urban

Model 2: adds the attitude factor as an indep variable

GOF Tests of whole model Nested model test

Model 3: tests for group difference between countries. (To follow)

Model 4: tests for group difference within countries. (To follow)


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D I S C

E

R

N

M

E

N

T ! Model should fit the reality.

Two types of LFP.

Who Has: The final say on own health care The final say on making large purchases The final say on making household purchases The final say on visits to family

Dep Vars Labour Force Participation Logits

Wide participation – stating that they worked at all – Having any occupation. 33%.

Narrow participation, construed here (due to constraints in the data) as Formal-sector labour market participation; here, formal-sector occupational groups-- In total this group comprised 5.5% of women in 2007. It is a rare event.

Informal-sector labour market participation. This is how about 28% of the Bangladesh women

work.


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Table 1: Descriptives, Bangladesh Women, DHS 2007

DEP VARS workerwide 33% of wives workerhigh 7% of wives workerinformal 28% of wives


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Table 1: Descriptives, Bangladesh Women, DHS 2007

mean s.d. Lowest highest INDEP VARS Age 35 yrs 8.601504 15 49 Wealth index -6613 94185.19 -110680

382304 hindu .08 .2727044 0 1 rural .65 .4758562 0 1 widow .06 .2303986 0 1 edyears 3.21 3.949377 0

16 ATTITUDE VARS egalatt 0 .69 -1.13 1.16 beatatt 0 .26 -.68 .15

There are 30,527 cases in the data.


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Table 1: Logit regression of women only, Bangladesh 2007Key: egalatt = egalitarian attitudes to decision making about spending in/by the householdworkerwide = all forms of remunerated work in the labour market (1=yes, 0=no)


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Table 2: Logit regression of women only, Salaried Work, Bangladesh 2007Key: egalatt = egalitarian attitudes to decision making about spendingWorkerhigh = the salaried and service-sector work in the labour market (1=yes, 0=no)


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Informal sector=Distress labouring.

Table 3: The informal sector labour supply equation has an inverse education “effect”


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Findings (1b): Discernment Through Clarity of Dependent Variable Construction

LFP=labour force participation

How good is the fit?

What is the education effect on LFP?

How strong is the association of LFP with attitudes?

Does education interact with attitudes?

WIDE LFP Pseudo 4%*no wealth effect

Small Direct association of Egalitarian Attitudes with LFP is large

“No interaction effect.” – a misunderstanding, epiphenomenal evidence.

FORMAL LFP Pseudo 8%*no wealth effect

Positive Directly small; It reinforces the apparent impact of education &vv

INFORMAL LFP Pseudo 10%

It is a poverty effect: woman joining in the labour market more in desperation.

Negative Directly large; It reverses the negative association of education with LFP

Based on DHS Bangladesh 2007

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Hypotheses of New Project

The declining labour participation rate of Indian women is not explicable by rising modern, or egalitarian, attitudes, nor by education. LFP rising/ falling in rural areas?

It could only be explained by another driver, likely to be either household wealth or the partner’s earnings. Another possibility is caring for the ill husband.

From N. Indrani Mazumdar, EPW 2011, XLVI 43: page 119.


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Findings (1) Bangladesh 2007 In Bangladesh, two distinct factors exist – one for

attitudes thought to be general about wife-beating; and one about how equal men’s and women’s roles in decision making are.

As factors they each fit well. Their cross-correlation is very low. Egalitarian decision making about spending is, in turn,

positively correlated 0.12 *** with egalitarian attitudes about women’s roles. We use only one of these.

Egalitarian personal attitudes are associated with a higher likelihood of working, and/or those in the labour force (in DHS terms) have more egalitarian personal attitudes. Same for attitudes about wife-beating. The explanatory power added is about 2% on 8% in DHS.


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Findings (2) Comparative In Bangladesh, overall female participation in the labour market

is, according to the WVS, lower than India on comparable measures.

In both countries, the egalitarian attitude to housewifery is associated with working informally, but is neither determining nor particularly strongly co-associated with work for those working fulltime.

WVS shows that in both Bangladesh and India, age (an inverted U curve) and education are the main factors associated with working fulltime. Those with more education are more likely to be PARTICIPATING.

Explanatory power when ‘attitudes’ or social norms about gender is the dependent variable is low in both Bangladesh and India in the WVS, with r-squared of 5% or less, and low or no correlation among attitude measures!

gender norms and factor analysis of attitudes in bangladesh and india (giga)

Economy & Finance