Family Decision Making Power and Women's Marital Satisfaction

Using the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, we examine the relationship between family decision-making power and women's marital satisfaction. Interestingly, this paper reveals that overall, there is a negative association between women's family decision-making power and marital satisfaction. However, some heterogeneities exist: the negative association is found among women with less education (income), and constrained by Confucian family ethics, but no association is found for women from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. Women from more traditional and economically disadvantaged backgrounds are conflicted by the prospect of breaking existing social norms designated for them. Therefore, when operating outside the traditional norms to become family decision-makers, their marital satisfaction is reduced.