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About the Project

GenIX is a two-year ESRC-funded research project which aims to understand the factors that influence the entitlements of individuals to household resources. It arose because no systematic research has been carried out of the gendered characteristics, norms and institutions that influence resource allocation within households, and certainly not from a cross-country perspective.

The aim of this research is to understand the factors that influence the entitlements of individuals to household resources. By focussing on heterosexual couples with or without children, we aim to uncover the ways in which such factors are gendered, that is have different effects according to whether they pertain to men or to women, and in particular are influenced by different perceptions of the contributions and interests of men and women. We will conduct this study cross-nationally to explore the effect of socio-economic, cultural and policy differences. So far, no systematic research has been carried out that combines theoretical and empirical analysis of the influence of individual characteristics and extrahousehold norms and institutions on intra-household allocation and gender relations, and certainly not from a cross-country perspective.

The study aims to answer the following questions:

  • What are the factors, internal and external to a household, that affect the entitlements of members of a household?
  • To what extent do individual factors have different effects according to whether they pertain to men or to women?
  • How do country-specific institutional differences affect within household entitlements?

How can these institutional effects and country-specific patterns be explained

  • What policy lessons can be learned for
    •  the development of policies to reduce gender inequalities within and beyond households
    • avoiding policies inadvertently worsening such inequalities, and
    • ensuring that policies, whatever their aim, are enhanced rather than rendered less effective by processes internal to households?