Woman's Decision-Making Autonomy

Anchoring Vignettes for Decision-Making - Women's Autonomy

Questions:

  1. How able [is name of person/are you] to make decisions in the household?
Response categories:
  1. Completely able
  2. Somewhat able
  3. A little able
  4. Not able

Vignettes:

  1. [Grace] has three children, two boys and a girl. She does not want any more children, but her husband would like at least one more child. She gets a Depo injection to prevent pregnancy without telling her husband. Her husband is very angry and threatens to beat her, but does not, and lets her continue getting Depo shots.

  2. [Dorothy] wants to use the pill to delay the birth of their next child, but her husband fears that the pill will jeopardize her future fertility and refuses to let her use it. They agree to use traditional methods of childspacing instead.

  3. [Agnes] makes extra-money selling wood and has saved up enough money to buy a radio. She buys it without asking her husband. He doesn't complain because she paid for the radio with her extra money.

  4. [Mercy] says her nine-year-old son is old enough to be initiated but her husband wants to wait another year. They wait another year for their son’s initiation.

  5. [Ruth] wants to marry a boy from Balaka. Her parents want her to stay in school and wait a couple of years before she marries. Her parents agree to let her marry the boy if she waits at least one year. So she waits.