Reforming of Women’s Litigant Rights and Child Wellbeing: Evidence from Nigeria

Efobi, Uchenna R. and Ajefu, Joseph (2023) Reforming of Women’s Litigant Rights and Child Wellbeing: Evidence from Nigeria. The Journal of Development Studies, 59 (1). pp. 58-72. ISSN 0022-0388

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Preview	Text Reforming of Women s Litigant Rights and Child Wellbeing Evidence from Nigeria.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (991kB) | Preview

Abstract

Does a legal reform with patriarchal interpretations of the religious law codes affect the wellbeing of the children? In this study, we show that reforming the legal system by adopting a religious law, with high enforcement in some Nigerian states, affects a woman's bargaining power and utility outside marriage, which could adversely affect a child's wellbeing. We find empirical support for this framework by using a difference-in-differences design that exploits variation in the women's religion, the state of residence, and the period of reform enforcement in Nigeria. The findings of this paper reveal that women exposed to the reforms are likely to report poor health investment and poor health outcomes in their children. The potential pathways through which the reform affects child wellbeing include early marriage entry and a decline in a woman's intra-household bargaining power.

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