Women's empowerment over recreation and travel expenditures in Pakistan: Prevalence and determinants

The aim of this paper is to provide information on how often women direct family expenditures over recreation and travel (R&T), the extent of their empowerment, and the factors that promote it. Bargaining and feminist theory predict that married women are more empowered to make R&T spending decisions if they: are employed, educated, and have additional children–but are less empowered if they reside in an extended family, especially if it larger by having more adults and if their mother in law is present. We test, and provide support for these hypotheses, using data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey.