Modeling determinants of women’s decision-making autonomy on agriculture and household matters in rural Ethiopia: a mixed effects beta regression tree analysis
- 1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Ethiopia
- 2Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Ethiopia
- 3Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Abstract
Despite existing research on women’s decision-making autonomy (WDMA), there remains a significant gap in understanding the complex factors influencing women’s autonomy. This study investigated the determinants of WDMA in agriculture and household matters in rural Ethiopia. The study used data from nine rural districts in the Oromia and the former Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples region in Ethiopia. A mixed effects beta regression tree model was used to identify variables impacting WDMA across diverse participant segments. The analysis incorporated various fixed effects, including family size, women’s and their partners’ years of education, women’s age, women’s perception towards cultural norms on gender differences, religion, household wealth quintiles, and participation in social groups. Random effects were taken into account by including the districts of the households and the survey rounds, while the gender of the household leader and marital status served as partitioning variables. Factors that were found to be significantly associated with WDMA among the married women from male-led households were: the age of the women, the perception of women towards cultural norms on gender difference, if women were Muslim compared to Orthodox Christian, richness of households and participation in social groups. In the case of women not in marriage and who were from male-led households, we identified the same factors to be associated with increased WDMA. Among women in female-led segments, only the age of the women and Orthodox Christianity compared to Muslim followers were contributing significantly to a higher WDMA. Interventions aimed at increasing women’s decision-making autonomy should consider acting on some of these determinants so that women can play a more prominent role in agricultural and household matters.
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BibTeX
@article{dadi2026modeling,
title = {{Modeling determinants of women’s decision-making autonomy on agriculture and household matters in rural Ethiopia: a mixed effects beta regression tree analysis}},
author = {Teshome Kabeta Dadi and Dessalegn Tamiru and Beyene Wondafrash and Mekdes Kebede Gebremariam},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0355932},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355932},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Modeling determinants of women’s decision-making autonomy on agriculture and household matters in rural Ethiopia: a mixed effects beta regression tree analysis
AU - Teshome Kabeta Dadi
AU - Dessalegn Tamiru
AU - Beyene Wondafrash
AU - Mekdes Kebede Gebremariam
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0355932
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355932
AB - Despite existing research on women’s decision-making autonomy (WDMA), there remains a significant gap in understanding the complex factors influencing women’s autonomy. This study investigated the determinants of WDMA in agriculture and household matters in rural Ethiopia. The study used data from nine rural districts in the Oromia and the former Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples region in Ethiopia. A mixed effects beta regression tree model was used to identify variables impacting WDMA across diverse participant segments. The analysis incorporated various fixed effects, including family size, women’s and their partners’ years of education, women’s age, women’s perception towards cultural norms on gender differences, religion, household wealth quintiles, and participation in social groups. Random effects were taken into account by including the districts of the households and the survey rounds, while the gender of the household leader and marital status served as partitioning variables. Factors that were found to be significantly associated with WDMA among the married women from male-led households were: the age of the women, the perception of women towards cultural norms on gender difference, if women were Muslim compared to Orthodox Christian, richness of households and participation in social groups. In the case of women not in marriage and who were from male-led households, we identified the same factors to be associated with increased WDMA. Among women in female-led segments, only the age of the women and Orthodox Christianity compared to Muslim followers were contributing significantly to a higher WDMA. Interventions aimed at increasing women’s decision-making autonomy should consider acting on some of these determinants so that women can play a more prominent role in agricultural and household matters.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -