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Gender, Intra-household Inequality and Poverty
Measurement Adapted by the IRIS Center at the
University of Maryland from a presentation by
Stacey Young, Senior Knowledge Management
Advisor at the USAIDMicroenterprise Development
Office, 2007
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Why use poverty measurement tools?

• to comply with USAID regulations (funding
  implications)
• to learn about clients (product, program)

3
The PATs measure poverty

• using proxy indicators
• at the household level
• However, not all household members are equal
  household is used as a proxy for an individual

4
What does this have to do with gender?

• Answers to survey questions about proxy
  indicators may differ depending on the gender of
  the interviewer and interviewee this has
  implications for how you implement the poverty
  tools and for the accuracy of the data you
  collect
• The focus at the household level can distract
  from the fact that some members of the household
  may be poorer than others this has implications
  for the field of poverty measurement and for how
  your project addresses poverty

5
Who is in the room?

• What are some survey questions that might give
  different answers depending on who is in the room
  during the interview?
• the gender of interviewer and of the respondent
• the gender of the other household members present
  during an interview

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• what is the households source of drinking water?
  (Bangladesh)
• does anyone in the household have a bank account?
  (Peru, Guatemala and Bangladesh)
• total area of all plots of land you own?
  (Vietnam)
• sufficiency of food consumed (quantity/quality)?
  (Bangladesh)
• does the household own livestock, wristwatch,
  farm equipment, camera, radio, TV, pickup truck,
  bicycles, boats and canoes, etc. (various assets
  on all tools)

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What is the households source of drinking water?

• (Who carries it?usually women, children)
• Male respondent The tap over that way.
• Female respondent with male present The tap
  over that way.
• Female respondent with no male present Usually
  the tap over that way, unless Im running late
  with my household chores and have a few coins, in
  which case I buy a can full from the boy who
  brings full cans with his wheelbarrow.

8
Does anyone in the household have a bank account?

• Husband responds, when wife is present Not me.
• Woman responds, when male relative is present
  Not me.

9
How many saris does the household own?

• Male respondent I dont know.
• Male respondent trying to impress the
  interviewer an exaggerated number.
• Female respondent whose husband is present
  fewer than she actually has.

10
What is the total land area of all the plots of
land you own?

• Will a woman interviewee count only her plots,
  hers and her husbands, hers and her co-wives?
• Will interviewees count land devoted to cash
  crops or only land where staple crops are being
  grown? What if the cash crop land is controlled
  by one member of the household will they
  consider it to belong to the household?

11
Boats, canoes, pickup truck, farm equipment?

• Will a woman always count these if theyre used
  only by male household members?

12
Enough of the right kind of food?

• Is there a hierarchy to who eats what type of
  food, and when? If so, a respondents answer may
  depend on whether youre asking the one(s) who
  ate first, second or last

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What is the solution?

• Think about
• Who is asking
• Who is answering
• Who is listening to the conversation
• Choose your interviewers and respondents
  accordingly
• Train the interviewers in techniques to control
  the interview setting

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• Identify questions that different household
  members might answer differently and plan
  follow-up questions to probe
• Have interviewers practice in advance
• Small group work choose one of the problem
  questions and develop follow-up questions to
  probe further report back to the whole group.