Article: Gender and Consumption Expenditure Pattern in India

India is experiencing the high growth regime with simultaneous increase in the number of under-nourished population for almost two decades now – following the ‘economic liberalization’ of 1991. The effect of GDP growth did not ‘trickle down’ and the income distribution is becoming more and more skewed day by day. The planning commission has officially recognised this undeniable reality ‘in principle’, too. Given, this kind of poverty and inequality in India, an urgent need of making the ongoing growth process more inclusive was felt and became the primary objective of the 11^th V year Plan (2007-12) of India. Inclusiveness does not merely mean redistribution of incremental income from the rich to the poor. It has to include the backward castes, the religious minorities, the tribal population, the population from regionally backward areas and other marginalised sections into the process of growth and economic activity, given the socio-economic-political-cultural-regional-linguistic diversity of our country. However, inclusiveness would be absolutely meaningless without considerations about the women – literally constituting the ‘half of the sky’.

“Traditional analyses of poverty based on the concept of income poverty or private consumption patterns take the ‘household’ as the unit of analysis, starting from the assumption that resources are shared equally within households. However, households are characterized by cooperation and sharing as well as conflict and bargaining over the distribution of resources and work patterns” (Sen 1990). The ‘good mother hypothesis’ claims that the consumption pattern of female dominated households would be different than the rest of the families. “Evidence from a diverse group of countries, for instance, shows gender differences in the pattern of consumption expenditures. Whereas women tend to spend more on children and household needs, the pattern of expenditures by men tend to be skewed towards leisure commodities (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.) and goods that are status symbols. … Thus, the expenditures of women enhance capabilities that are directly productive while those of men tend to be channelled to ‘unproductive’ uses” (Çaðatay 1998).

To test the ‘good mother hypothesis’ in the context of India, we have taken unit level detailed data on consumption expenditure for our empirical study. The latest large sample survey (quinquennial round) data covering 1,24,644 households across the country are available for the year 2004-05 (61^st round). In the context of Indian society, the so called ‘female headed’ households may not necessarily mean that the decision making power of female members are more because the usual practice is to tell the name of the eldest person as the head of the family during survey. She might not necessarily have greater control in the consumption decision making process of the household. It would be more reasonable to assume that the proportion of adult female members makes a difference in the decision making process of an average Indian family. We have borrowed this idea from an extremely interesting recent (2010) study on Gender and Taxation in Indian context by Chakraborty, Chakraborty, Karmakar and Kapila. Although, this is also certainly not beyond questions, yet, we take the later definition to test the ‘good mother hypothesis’ empirically, assuming that the degree of women’s say in the consumption decision, ceteris paribus, varies positively with the proportion of adult female members within the family.

Our empirical analysis suggests that the female dominated households spend significantly less on ‘sin goods’ like pan, tobacco & intoxicants as a proportion to their total consumption expenditure. Clearly, for the female dominated families, these goods are less prioritized as compared to other families in India. The female dominated households are also found to spend proportionally more on education as well as on institutional and non-institutional health with respect to total consumption expenditure all across classes, locations, castes and religions. For good mothers, children’s education is of utmost importance. However, proportionately more out of pocket expenditure on health for families with more adult female members can not be said to be a proof of ‘good mother’ doctrine unambiguously. Yet, health gets priority in female dominated households for sure given the level of public provisioning separately in rural and urban areas. However, the tribal population is an exception in this regard. Our present empirical study finds that the urban female dominated households in India are found to spend proportionately more on non-durable miscellaneous goods including rents. The question of safety and security is a major concern particularly in urban areas.

The empirical evidences from various countries suggest that the consumption pattern varies with income of men and women within the same family. Our empirical analysis suggests that if the say of women in the consumption decision of households increase, the consumption pattern would be more sensible with respect to reproductive economy. If the sole factor of production – the labour is also a produced input – produced within the reproductive society, this kind of consumption pattern is absolutely important for the development of human capital. That is why it is said that “financing gender equality is financing development” (UNIFEM 2008). “It is often stated that labour is poor people’s most abundant asset. But women do not always have full control over their own labour or the income they earn” (N. Cagatay 2001). However, if women earn, their bargaining strength in making consumption decisions relatively increases in most cases. It is empirically evident in the context of countries mentioned in the literature review section. Since, information about individual income is not available in India, we are not in a position to directly test that empirically. However, in the context of India too, it is largely true that the say of women in consumption decision making increases with their income. India is a vast country with diverse cultures and uncountable number of ethnic and linguistic communities – nothing could be generalised so easily here. But, within a society of similar culture and ethnicity, the hypothesis should be valid separately for all the societies by taking account of the respective cross-sectional effects.

As per 2004-05, 61^st round NSSO large sample employment-unemployment survey, the average wage rate of a male worker was Rs. 145 as compared to only Rs. 85.50 for a female worker in rural India. In urban areas the average wage rates for a male and a female worker have been Rs. 203 and Rs. 153 respectively. Clearly, more say of women in the consumption decision ensures certain kind of consumption pattern which is good from the point of view of the reproductive society and also necessary for a better future. From a policy perspective, if the theory of public finance tells us to levy extra tax on ‘sin goods’ and to make more public provision of ‘merit goods’, the same rationale applies for an income redistribution in favour of women. It is needless to say that sustained women empowerment requires more jobs for women at enhanced wage rate which is at least at par with that of men along with equal access to assets.

[The authors are indebted to IWG-GEM knowledge sharing workshop on Gender and Macroeconomics in July 2009 at Levy Economics Institute, New York, USA. Authors are also grateful to Pinaki Chakraborty and Sona Mitra for their valuable inputs.]

References:

Çağatay, Nilufer (2001) “Trade, Gender and Poverty,” Background Paper. UNDP, (http://www.undp.org/poverty/docs/pov_tradegenderpoverty _doc.pdf).

Chakraborty. Pinaki & Lekha Chakraborty & Krishanu Karmakar & Shashi M. Kapila (2010) “Gender Equality and Taxation in India: An unequal Burden?” in Caren Grown and Imraan Valodia Ed. Taxation and Gender Equality: A Comparative Analysis of Direct and Indirect Taxes in Developing and Developed Countries, Routledge, Forthcoming.

NSSO (2004-05) Unit level data on consumption expenditure for the 61^st Round Quinquennial Survey, Central Statistical Organisation, GoI.

NSSO (2004-05) Report on Employment and Unemployment situation in India for the 61^st Round Quinquennial Survey, Central Statistical Organisation, GoI, Report no. 515 (part I&II).

Sen, Amartya (1990) ‘Gender and Cooperative Conflict’ In Irene Tinker ed. Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development, New York: Oxford University Press.

UNIFEM (2008): “Financing gender equality is financing development”, Discussion paper, February.