Objectives

This interdisciplinary research project has theoretical, methodological, empirical and policy-related  objectives as listed below.

Theoretical objectives

(i) to build a model of intrahousehold allocation based on the work of Amartya Sen on cooperative conflicts that a) focuses on entitlements rather than preferences and b) takes account of the way in which men's and women's contributions, interests and breakdown positions (in the event that cooperation fails) may be differently perceived; 

(ii) to build an understanding of the factors that influence whether processes internal to households work to sustain or diminish gender inequalities, and the ways in which these processes depend on extra-household, policy-relevant, institutional variables. 

Methodological objectives

(i) to develop a method to identify empirically the factors internal and external to their household that influence the distribution of a couple's entitlements to different types of resources;

(ii) to compare and test various specifications of this method to take account of gender-specific perceptions of contributions, self-interest and breakdown positions, as well as adaptive expectations and social comparison. 

Empirical objectives

(i) to compare results obtained from UK data with those from other countries for which relevant panel data are available over a sufficient period of time (Germany, Australia  in the most recent years and some of the other EU-15 countries for the period 1994-2001);

(ii) to explore cross-nationally the impact of institutional and policy change on intrahousehold inequalities and their effects on gender inequalities more generally. 

Policy-related objectives

Cross-national comparison of internal and external effects on gendered individual entitlements will allow us to:

(i) identify which policy-relevant factors affect the distribution of entitlements within households and, in some cases, why;

(ii) draw policy implications for (a) the development of policies to reduce gender inequalities between men and women within households, (b) helping avoid policies inadvertently worsening such inequalities, and (c) the design of policies in general so that they are enhanced rather than rendered less effective in meeting their goals by processes internal to households.