The Determinants of Female Autonomy in Indonesia By

This paper investigates the determinants of female autonomy in Indonesia using the 2000 Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS3). We consider the role of kinship norms and the effect of labor force participation on female autonomy. Our measure of autonomy is based on self-reported answers to an array of questions relating to decision making authority in the household. They include economic and child-related decision making (household decision making autonomy), mobility (physical autonomy) and access and control over economic resources (economic autonomy). Our analysis examines if variations in female autonomy are due to the prevailing kinship norms related to marriage in the community. In keeping with the anthropological literature, our analysis finds that living in patrilocal communities reduces physical autonomy for women, whereas living in uxorilocal communities improves household decision-making autonomy. Estimation results show that labor force participation, higher educational attainment and increases in household wealth all have positive effects on female autonomy.