Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232807 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14055
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We employ georeferenced data and longitudinal household panel survey data to investigate the impact of the dramatic flooding that hit Bangladesh from August-September 2014 on women's employment and empowerment. Development economics models suggest an increase in household members' labour supply as a shock-coping strategy. Our difference-in-differences estimates confirm this assumption: women's employment probability increases by approximately 13 percentage points. Correcting for selection bias due to the initial employment status of women, we also find significant increases in the probability of non-employed women entering employment, in the average monthly income of employed women and in the probability of women engaging in autonomous wage-earning activities. Finally, we show that the greater earning capacity of employed women – instrumented by the intensity of flooding in the villages where women live – contributes to raising their bargaining power within the household as measured by the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index and by economic decision-making indicators.
Subjects: 
Bangladesh
flood
shock-coping strategy
women's employment
intrahousehold bargaining
JEL: 
F66
J16
Q12
Q54
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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