Gender Differences in Intra-Household Expenses on Health and Education in Rural Odisha

Literature on gender differences in household-level expenditure outcomes, often highlight relatively higher expenditure on education and health in women-headed households. The present paper seeks to study this aspect of gendered household expenditure in the context of rural Odisha. The study also makes an attempt to explore the possible effects of family income, household size, educational level, number of earning members etc., on the level of expenditure on education and health. With the help of descriptive statistics and regression analysis on the primary data collected from 1500 rural households from different districts of Odisha, the paper concludes that there are significant differences in the consumption patterns between men and women-headed households. However, the study undertaken for this paper also found that even in women-headed households, key elements of patriarchy do play a role in influencing decision-making on household expenditure.