Cultural Determinants of Household Decision Making among the Nandi Community in Kenya

Cultural Determinants of Household Decision Making among the Nandi Community in Kenya

Mary Cheptoo, Benard Mwori Sorre and Eric Kiprono Bor

Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.8110027

Received: 17 October 2024; Accepted: 22 October 2024; Published: 27 November 2024

ABSTRACT

Despite household decision making being a critical input for household socio-economic development, it seems to be taken for granted in most situations. Among the Nandi community, households seem to lag behind and score poorly in terms of their social and economic conditions despite having the necessary resources to propel them into better development indicators. This paper is an outcome of a study that was carried by the authors to examine cultural factors that influenced household decision making among the Nandi community. The targeted population were all households in Maraba Location, Nandi South Constituency. A sample size of 174 households participated in the study and were selected either purposively or by simple random sampling. Data was collected by an interview schedule and in-depth interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were employed. It was found that cultural beliefs (154, 88.5%), cultural expectations concerning men and women (141, 79.9%), traditions and customs (29, 74.1%) affected household decision making process. Household headship (156, 89.7%) and responsibility were vested in men (170, 98.2%). Male-dominated decisions regarding ownership of property like land (116, 66.7%), livestock farming (115, 66.1%) and leadership (123, 70.7%). Women dominated decisions regarding the kitchen (125, 71.8%) and care of girls (72, 38%). the study concluded that cultural factors had a positive effect on household decisions and determined who was to be the household head, the decision-making process, as well as the types of decisions taken. The study recommended the need to embrace collective decision-making strategies and for civic education to promote cultural practices that enhanced socio-economic development and refute those that were retrogressive.

INTRODUCTION

Decision making is one of the most primary responsibilities in management, but it varies on the bases of individual’s differences. This is because every person has different thinking and information processing style that makes a difference in their decision-making styles. At the household level, decision making lies at the core of any humanitarian response. An effective response requires a series of decisions: on whether, where and to intervene, on the scale and nature of the intervention, and on how to best allocate resources, coordinate with other agencies, and maintain the safety and security of the affected people (Knox & Campbell, 2020).

The success of any household mostly depends upon the quality of decisions made by its managers that is, the household heads. Consequently, any difference in personality traits directly affects the decision-making styles (Katarzyna & Karoli, 2021). It is the decision-making styles that in turn reflect nature and thinking of household heads within a household set up. This depends and includes their mentality on how they use information, conceptualize and envision the future of their families. Decision making style is a learned, usual response pattern that a person shows in a decision situation (Ding, Xu, Yang, Li & Heughten, 2020). According to Greenberg (2016), decision making styles are a blend of how a person recognizes and understands the situation and a manner in which he/she selects the alternative to respond to a particular situation.

The nature of the interactions governing the intra-household resource distribution process is varied. Andreis (2020), gives a general characterization of intra-household interactions based on the collective rationality model on the assumption that household decisions achieve a Pareto-efficient allocation of resources, irrespective of which bargaining mechanisms determine household members’ decisions. In contrast, Baruch and Stephen (2020) and Bruin de Bruin and Fischhoff (2020) argue that decision-markers’ intra-household resource allocation decisions may be Pareto-inefficient as a result of the imperfect enforceability of marital contracts or due to information asymmetries among partners within households. The allocation of resources in the household is not obvious, Pareto-efficient non-cooperative interactions in the provision of household public goods may undermine this. Yet evidence from a number of studies assessing households’ consumption patterns in developed countries suggests that Pareto efficiency is attained (Shaked & Schechter, 2019). According to the collective approach, allocation decisions are determined by individual decision-makers’ power within the household; this “power” function or sharing rule may be a function of partner-specific incomes, marriage market forces and legislation influencing the division of marital goods upon divorce (Katarzyna & Karoli, 2021).

According to World Bank (2020) on African countries indicated that social and cultural motives subordinate and restrict household’s access to resources, including their control and utilization. In addition, cultural and social stigma is also attached to marital status, especially in access to, control over and utilization of resources. For instance, single, widowed and divorced women find themselves with fewer options for economic opportunities (Cadet, 2018). World Bank (2020) provided evidence that gender relations where men had more power than women at the household level, impinged on economic outcomes in multiple ways.

In Kenya, few studies have been done on household decision making and in particular, factors affecting decision making process. For instance, Jessica et al (2020) focused on socio-economic characteristics of households that affect husbands and wives’ contributions to decisions regarding the use of income from crop and livestock sales in Kenya. Mutua et al. (2024) examined how decisions regarding the prevention and treatment of livestock diseases are often the result of negotiations among household members. Voss et al. (2024) explored decision-making across various activities, shedding light on the differences in decision-making structures for different types of management decisions. It is within this context that the current study focused on cultural factors that affect decision-making affecting utilization of household resources among households in Nandi community.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The balance of power in most households reflects the concept of separate spheres in conventional marital contracts. These contracts consist of cultural understandings of reciprocal rights and obligations of each spouse within a household (Sweetman, 2021). In essence, power is consolidated and institutionalized through a socialization process. This ensures that men and women are aware of the power that each possesses in the community.

According to Wood (2021), gender relations and participation of women in decision-making is spelt out and engraved in their prevailing culture. Again, in patrilineal societies, the socialisation process has been used to shape and entrench gender differences between boys and girls right from birth. Autonomy is the ability to obtain information and make decisions about one’s own concerns. It facilitates access to material resources such as food, land, income and other forms of wealth, and social resources such as knowledge, power, prestige within the family and community. Education is a widely used indicator in the literature because it increases access to information; the likelihood to find a job in the wage labour market; the likelihood of technology adoption and use.

Schiglimpaglia (2005) notes that one measure of bargaining power is the income earned by women, as wage income is typically retained even after a divorce. Additionally, the assets controlled by women, such as land or livestock, are used to approximate their bargaining power. These assets are particularly crucial because they can act as a ‘credible threat,’ allowing women to keep them after leaving the household.

Gender inequality is not the only factor determining household dynamics. Intra-household differentiation also affects children differently depending on family status, which is determined through gender, age, birth order, and status of the mother. Where monogamy prevails, hierarchy amongst children tends to be established via gender and birth order. As Ejrnas and Portner (2004) show, often children with higher birth order have an advantage over siblings with lower birth order in the allocation of resources. Choe et al. (1995) reach the same conclusion for China, where female children with older siblings are often discriminated against in greater measure. The practice of polygyny, common in many African societies, introduces a different axis of inequality in the household. As Oni (2006) has shown for the Yoruba, relationships in polygynous marriages are intrinsically unequal and hierarchical. Mother and child form a social unit, and their position within the marriage is defined in relation to the position of other wives. ‘Favoured’ wives enjoy a privileged position in the household, and are more likely to be granted moral and financial support from the husband, while neglected wives (usually senior wives) are often obliged to find alternative ways of supporting their children in times of need.

Gender relations are not confined to the household, they constitute an important institutional site on which relations are played out. Wood (2021) observes that gender relations are initiated by men within society from a position of power and maintained in households, as well as community and national levels. As a consequence, men enjoy the benefits of decision-making power in households over women. Feminists contend that men dominate women in various aspects of life in most African communities (Yates & De-Oliveira, 2019). Women’s roles are classified as domestic and community activities such as organizing and attending. Societal gender division of labour confines women to roles that have no monetary value, hence discrimination based on their gender (Wood, 2011). From the above empirical studies, there is no other systematic research done on gender relations in access to and control over resources.

Conversely, gender activities mark the difference between men and women in households, as well as the powers each has regarding decision-making. According to sociologists, such as Sen (2019), certain preconceived notions rooted strongly in the minds of men, perceive women as inferior. Similarly, Alem, et al (2018) stresses that gender is learned from infancy, with children being encouraged to learn how to embody the gender that society prescribes them. However, it is important to note that gender relations and gendered division of household labour is primarily constrained by cultural expectation and so men are the breadwinners and women home-makers. These cultural images must be altered to allow women access resources and improve their position in decision making in the household. Wamue and Njoroge (2021) have also shown how, traditionally, men in many communities have authority and power over women. They contend that in patriarchal societies, customs and traditions tend to favour men at the expense of women, especially in terms of ownership of assets (household and productive) at the household level.

According to Ndiritu et al (2022) in their study on determinants of food security with a bias on the link between gender of the household head and food security using detailed farm household and plot level survey data from 30 divisions in rural Kenya. Both descriptive and econometric results showed that female headed households in general were more likely to be food insecure compare to their male counterparts. The analysis further revealed that in female headed households, food security increases with quality of extension work; land quality and farm size, while distance to the market reduces the probability of food security.

However, in research by Tiruneh et al (2021) to assess the role of gender in terms of resource ownership and decision-making power in the mixed farming system of Adalume and Gimbichuwored in central highland of Ethiopia, out of a sample of 180 households, 45% were headed by females. Female-headed households (FHHs) were those that were managed by a widowed, divorced, or single woman without the mediation of a husband, father, or male relative in the routine day-today activities of that household. Male-headed households (MHHs) were those where a husband was present and was the final decision-maker in important issues pertaining to the household (Starkey et al. 2018). The survey result indicated arrange of similarity and differences among FHHs and MHHs. The average size of MHHs was larger than FHHs and male heads of households were more educated than female heads of households. In almost all FHHs it was the head who decided what to plant. In MHHs, it was mostly a joint decision by the head and wife.

In a study in Nigeria by Quisumbing and Maluccio (2020) they found that since women were not able to smoothen their long-term consumption using land, they insured their long-term needs by investing in the health and education of their children in the hope that they will take care of them in old age. In Kenya, the gender gap can be attributed to societal norms and culture, where men are still considered better than women as they can translate investments in education and health into returns via the labour market much faster than women. The gender bias in Kenya compared with a country like India is covert (Mwinuka & Hyera, 2022). In Kenya, one can tell whether bias exists by observing the allocation of resources to males and females while in India there is antenatal selection and termination of pregnancy especially if the unborn child is female, and even after birth, the child mortality rate of girls is 40%-50% higher than boys (Khanna et al., 2023; Thankian, 2020). The literature indicates that culture significantly influences decision-making.

Culture encompasses the social behavior, institutions and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups (Şahin, 2021). The factors that influence culture include horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, which shape personal values, goals, power concepts, and normative expectations that affects what, how, which and when decisions are to be made. “Tight” cultures have many norms that are strictly enforced socially, whereas “loose” cultures have fewer norms, which may be violated to some degree without penalty (Gelfand et al., 2011). While most cultural differences have been interpreted in light of the individualism/collectivism framework, many differences could be explained by differences in tightness/looseness instead. The two constructs are somewhat correlated, with collectivistic cultures being tighter than individualistic cultures. This may explain why, in decision-making, collectivists often weigh input from others more than individualists; they may be concerned with adhering to norms (Yates & de Oliveira, 2016).

At the household level, cultures will vary in how they influence decision-making. Some cultures make more deliberate, more rapid and intuitive decisions. This study analyzed how beliefs, norms and values influence decision-making by the household heads. Other information sought was the influence of gender roles and cultural spaces as assigned by culture in the study population.

METHODOLOGY

This study adopted an explanatory research design. The target population were all households in Maraba Location, Nandi South Constituency. A sample size of 174 households participated in the study and were selected either purposively or by simple random sampling. Data was collected by an interview schedule and in-depth interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were employed.

RESULTS

Cultural Beliefs, Norms and Values

Cultural beliefs constitute the act of acceptance, faith, confidence and trust that something exists or is true. Norms are rules, regulations or expectation that are enforced by a social group. Values are ideals over what is right or wrong, good or bad. Cultural beliefs, values and norms guide decision making and behavior of individuals or groups in the society. In fact, they form the underlying basis on which an individual may or may not act the way he/she acts. It is on this basis that several questions were asked to test if cultural values, norms and beliefs in the study area affected the way decisions were made at the household level. The results were summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Effects of cultural beliefs, norms and values on decision making in the households

A majority (154, 88.5%) of the participants affirmed, while a minority (20, 11.5%) disagreed that beliefs in the community affected decisions made in the household. This indicated that beliefs affected how decisions were made by the household heads. When asked further on some of the beliefs, majority of the respondents mentioned beliefs surrounding ownership of property, where male was dominant, and beliefs on inheritance, where males were the heirs. Beliefs in supernatural powers, beliefs about human nature and the roles of men and women. Beliefs about marriage and the roles of the spouses in a family set up. Beliefs on parenting. Beliefs in a curse and blessings, just to mention a few. According to one of the key informant’s opinions, he observed that “when making decisions, a household head is severally reminded about these beliefs depending on the issue at hand. For instance, there is a strong conviction that most of the critical decisions are to be made by men in this community. Similarly, some decision cannot be made without consultation with the elders for blessings and success.”

One hundred and forty-one (141, 79.9%) respondents said yes, while 33(12.6%) said no, on whether there were cultural expectations for men and women when it came to decision-making as members of the household. This impliedd that cultural expectations dictated the decision-making process and power between men and women in the household. Some of the cultural expectations mentioned included that men were to be the heads of the households, men were providers, women supported men, men were to make the overall decisions because they are the vision bearers of their families. Girls were not to inherit household property like land. The elder son or daughter was to represent the rest of the siblings in key decision making. When the husband has talked the wife cannot contradict even if she disagrees. These were simple but critical issues that affected daily operations of a household, leadership and decision making in a family set-up.

When asked whether there were specific decisions that required the household head to consult cultural traditions and customs before making them; 129(74.1%) of the respondents said yes, while 45(25.9%) said no. This implied that traditions and customs that people in the study area held, influenced decision making process. Some of these customs included the role of the father in-law, uncles and the eldest brother to the father, when it comes to some decisions. For instance, one of the key informants said that “division of land starts with the father showing the sons where they can eventually own. However, the final phase requires the rest of the clan men, especially the close relatives from the extended family like uncles to be invited to ratify and advise according to the customs and traditions of the Nandi community. For instance, the last born is to remain in the main family compound.” All rites of passage and their associated ceremonies including birth, naming of children, initiation (male circumcision), marriage (wedding) and death (burial), were also decided according to the Nandi community traditions and customs.

Gender Roles

Gender roles are social roles encompassing a range of behaviours and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate and desirable for a person based on the person’s sex. Gender roles are culturally and socially determined set of expected behaviors, attitudes, and characteristics based on one’s masculinity. These roles are usually defined by culture and vary from one community to another. It was important for this study to examine the link between culture, gender roles and decision-making process. The data summary is shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Cultural of gender roles

Most (156, 89.7%) of the respondents were affirmative that the community culture specifies the gender of the household head. Only 10(5.7%) said no, while 8(4.6%) were not sure. Those few who were not sure were largely the non-natives, especially those who married in the study area and/or those from other places but had bought land and stayed in the study community. However, the general impression was that the Nandi culture defined who between men and women was to be the household head. These findings were related to the previous results under Figure 4.1, which indicated how specific household roles were aligned to specific gender. However, it takes the sex from the biological state and transforms it into a socially and culturally defined person through the roles played either by a man or a woman.

When it comes to decision making, the roles played by either gender defined and restricted some decisions to specific gender. For instance, during a focused group discussion, a lady informant asserted that “the men own the home but the house belongs to the woman. Therefore, if you want to know if a family is selfish or generous, you look at the character of the lady.”

In order to confirm the actual state of affairs, research participants were asked to state the specific gender. A majority 170(98.2%) indicated male and 4(2.8%) said female as the gender specified by culture. Specifically, men and boys were not allowed to cook, to enter the kitchen, to mingle with women as they gist, to cry in public when inflicted with pain. The opposite was expected of women. On the other side, women were described as gentle and delicate, while men were strong, women were to love as men provide and protect their family, and women were to monopolize the domestic space as men were in the public space. These results implied that the culture of the study community defined gender roles for men and women in the community.

However, the few (10, 5.7%) who said that culture did not define gender roles, were mostly the highly educated cohort in the sampled population who seem to be less culturally bound and seemed more open-minded. In fact, four of them were single women. Culturally, they would be assumed as deviants, but conventionally, they were important change agents bringing in alternative sources of knowledge in the society.

For instance, culturally, among the Nandi people, women were to marry and even when the husband passed on, she was inherited by a cousin. However, from the findings the study encountered several independent and single women not married but running their households without any immediate male influence. This clearly shows that culture was not static, but was influenced by other factors. Additional information on whether cultural expectation was changing over time indicated that there were changes in cultural expectations. These changes were attributed to education, technology, religion and modern day’s freedom for individual choice and preferences.

Cultural Spaces

Cultural spaces were contexts in which cultural aspects existed. They may be geographical, mental or social spaces. In this study, the researcher was interested in knowing if there were any defined cultural spaces at the household level that influenced how decisions were made as summarized in Table 3 below.

Table 3: Cultural Spaces and decision Making by Household Heads

One hundred and forty-two (81.6%) of the respondents agreed that the community had defined some cultural spaces, while 32(18.4%) disagreed. When asked if the definition of gender spaces affected decision-making in the household, 96(55.2%) agreed, 45(25.8%) were not sure while 33(19%) said no. These results clearly showed that culture defined gender spaces within the study community. This prompted the researcher to seek listing of the specific cultural spaces as summarized in Table 4 below.

Table 4: Definition of cultural spaces by gender

Results in Table 4 above indicate that male-dominated decision-making for ownership of property like land (116,66.7%), livestock farming (115,66.1%) and leadership (123,70.7%). Females’ gender space was common on decisions regarding kitchen (125,71.8%) and care of girls (72, 38%). This implied that in as much as male and female dominance was common for specific decisions, the influence of joint headship and collaborative decision making was strong for decisions touching on some welfare issues like provision of food (94,53.4%), school fees (106, 59.8%) and medication/hospitalization (113, 62.1%).

Power Relations

Power dynamics within family relationships can be a significant source of conflict, tension and peace. These dynamics refer to how power is distributed and exercised between family members. Some family members may possess more power and influence than others based on age, gender, or socio-economic status. The study sought to establish power relations and how they influenced decision making within the households in the study area. A five-point Likert scale was used to measure seven items corresponding to power relations. The summary of the results is displayed in Table below 5.

Table 5: Power Relations on Decision-making in the Household

Findings in Table 5 above indicated that 130(74.7%) of the respondents agreed that some men and women were not ready to make certain decisions because of fear of contravening cultural values and beliefs. This prompted the researcher to interrogate further from the key informants why this was so. It emerged from one of the informants that,

Traditionally, the larger Kalenjin ethnic group where the Nandi community belong have a strong fear for curse. Therefore, anything that is traditionally established is thus, respected with a lot of reverence. For those who contravene, the community would condemn them for inviting a curse upon other members. That is why even at the household level, decision would follow the traditional route. Among the Nandi community, the man is the household head and his decisions are final. If a woman [wife] contravenes the man, then she is said to be overstepping her mandate and is condemned for demeaning the man. The assumption here is that the man will use all the due diligence, including consulting other men as provided for in their tradition, to make the best decision at all the times. (A man aged 61 years old).

From the above statement, it is evident that the Nandi tradition seem to have a prescribed way that guided the way decisions were made by various members of the household. The tradition in this case, provided the ideals. That is why 127 (67.2%) of the respondents agreed that men were the household heads and with the final say.

Findings in Table 5 further indicated that majority (106, 63.9%) of the respondents said that many households are not utilizing their resources well because of the unilateral decisions made by the household heads. This is actually a major critique to the traditional way of decision making, which assumed that men were household heads and always made the best decisions for their households. When interrogated further, respondents argued that ideally, men were assumed to be leaders. However, after many of the men became drunkards, decision making was impaired. That is why most of the households that were not performing well had their men, household heads, being alcoholics. In one of the focused group discussions, an informant observed that “most of the men in this village are lost in alcoholism. They drink a lot. It is the wives that were actually running homes. That is why you can see a lot of unutilized land. People have land, it is planting season and the land is not dug or planted. Some have leased their land and yet they have no food. That is how poverty sets in.”

With regard to gender and power relations, 89(51.1%) of the respondents said that gender bias in resource allocation and utilization in Maraba location was evident. According to deliberations in a focused group discussion with elders, it was clear that girls were not to inherit property like land. In fact, one of the elders said “in this community, everything belongs to the man. Including the women.” This statement simply meant that even the woman is a property of the man. Therefore, the bias is eminent and flows across other things that have to be inherited. This is based on the fact that; the Nandi community is patriarchal and inheritance is along the male line of the family. That is why boys are the heirs. So, all decisions to do with property and inheritance were in favour of the male members of the household. However, this was ideal. There were cases where women had been allocated family land especially when the girls did not get married.

In contrary to ownership of property, when it comes to use, women acquire usufructuary rights through men: their fathers and/or husbands. A lady for instance, can cultivate land belonging to the father or the husband, but lacks the disposal rights. The man would want to dictate to her what she should use the land for. This was a clear limitation to women in terms of decision making. An example was given by a key informant who affirmed that “you see in our community we classify women and children as one. They are collectively called lagok. That tells you how a woman is limited to make some decision because she is assumed to think like a child.” This clearly explains why majority (69, 39.7%) of the respondents were neutral to the question on whether mother-headed families make better decisions. Only 40(22.5%) of the respondents were affirmative to the question, as the remaining 65(37.4%) out rightly disagreed with the statement.

In response to the statement that women cannot manage a family without men, 107(60.3%) disagreed, 44(25.3%) indicated neutral and 25(14.3%) agreed. This shows that respondents disagreed that women cannot manage a family without men. These results can be explained severally. First, under the same Table 4.16 there were situations where we had households with men(husbands) that were drunkards and women were the ones managing the homes. We also had evidence from the study area, where single-women headed households existed. These were therefore, convincing reasons that women could still manage homes. This is not unique to the study area, previous research by Basilida Mutoro (1997) in Vihiga titled “Women working wonders” demonstrated that women headed-household were better managed than those managed by their male counterparts.

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, the foregoing discussion has demonstrated that cultural factors formed the basis of how and what decisions were to be made. However, there were few deviations due to aspects like education, law, intermarriages and alcoholism that reversed how culturally prescribed decisions were otherwise made.

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