The Importance of

Assets for Economic

Empowerment
XIII Encuentro Internacional de Estadísticas de Género: Bases empíricas
para políticas públicas orientadas al empoderamiento económico de las
mujeres , Oct 8-10, 2012

Caren Grown
American University and USAID

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 Why assets?
Livelihoods Shocks

Ease liquidity Poverty

Assets constraints

Overall well
Store of wealth being

Empowerment

Swaminathan et al 2012, ASSA

The Gender Asset Gap Project
 1. Why Assets?
Traditional poverty studies: poverty as lack of
income or consumption
• A snapshot of a moment in time
Asset-based poverty studies: focus on
accumulation of stock of assets over household
life cycle
• Full definition: physical & financial capital, natural
capital, human capital, social capital
• Our focus on physical & financial assets (wealth)

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The Gender Asset Gap Project
 Physical and Financial Assets
• Are a means of production
• May generate rent, interest, and profit
• Have current use value or provide services
• Serve as collateral for loans
• Act as a buffer during emergencies
• Are a store of wealth
• Can be passed on to future generations
• Can generate status and social advantage

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 The conceptual problem
• Until recently most asset-based poverty studies
have focused on households
• But…
• Can we assume that all members have the same access
to “household assets”?
• Can we assume that all members benefit equally from
“household assets”?

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The Gender Asset Gap Project
 But we know that
• Household and individual welfare are not
necessarily the same
• Individual asset ownership related to:
• Women’s well-being
• Their fall-back position: how well off they would
be in case of household dissolution (separation,
divorce, widowhood; choice whether to marry)
• Their bargaining position within marriage
• Role in decision-making
• Inversely related to domestic violence
• Less likely to fall into poverty

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 The empirical problem
• Most asset ownership and wealth data collected
at household level.
• But:
– Assets are owned by individuals
– Individuals vulnerable to household dissolution
– Men and women may acquire, use, and dispose
of assets differently
– Assets may provide bargaining power for women
within households and communities

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 Initial Research Questions
• What are the patterns of asset ownership by men
and women?
– Joint v. individual
– What is the extent of their rights over these assets?
• What are the main channels of asset acquisition for
men and women?
– Marriage, inheritance, gifts/transfers, purchase, govt
transfer
• What is the effect of context?
– Marriage/family laws affect asset ownership

The Gender Asset Gap Project

The Gender Asset Gap Project
 The Gender Asset Gap Project
Comparative across India, Ghana, Ecuador
Initially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
under the MDG3 Fund for gender equality

Four phases
1. Qualitative field work,
2. Large-scale household survey of all forms of
Physical/financial assets,
3. In-country and comparative data analysis, and
4. Dissemination of information

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 Quantitative Survey
• Followed extensive qualitative work

• Representative at the State level for

– Karnataka, India (4800 hhs)

• And at the national level for

– Ghana (2170 hhs)
– Ecuador (2978 hhs)

• All three country surveys are stratified by rural

and urban regions.

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 Unique structure of survey
• Interviewed two adults, usually principal
male and female, in each household
• Questions on all physical & financial assets,
including multiple means of valuation
• Household inventory:
– Asked detailed questions about all forms of
physical/financial assets, including
identification of owners
• Individual questionnaire:
– Asked about individual ownership and rights

The Gender Asset Gap Project

 Thank You
Project website: http://genderassetgap.iimb.ernet.in
Email: genderassetgap@iimb.ernet.in

The Gender Asset Gap Project