Women's decision-making power increases with age and varies across domains among BaYaka hunter-gatherers and Bandongo fisher-farmers in the Congo Basin

Women's decision-making power within households is a critical aspect of gender equality, influencing the well-being of household members and family dynamics. This study examines women’s perceived autonomy in household decision-making among BaYaka hunter-gatherers and Bandongo fisher-farmers in a forest village in the Republic of the Congo. We assess autonomy across various domains, including daily activities, food sharing, cash economy, long-term subsistence activities, mobility, and healthcare, by asking 1,777 questions to 93 BaYaka and Bandongo adults. Using these self-reported data, we analyzed how women's autonomy varies based on age, ethnicity, and decision-making domains. Older women in both communities report higher autonomy than younger women. Both BaYaka and Bandongo women make decisions on food sharing, reflecting their active roles in family provisioning. However, BaYaka women report greater control over financial and healthcare decisions than Bandongo women, who often share decision-making with their husbands. Despite this, both BaYaka and Bandongo women are less likely to decide on long-term family activities, such as extended fishing or hunting trips, and they view their husbands as household heads. Notably, BaYaka women report greater decision-making power for themselves than BaYaka men acknowledge, indicating a gender gap in perceived autonomy. These findings provide context-specific insights into women’s roles in household decision-making in two subsistence societies with different gender norms, social structures, subsistence practices, and kinship systems. Future research should explore the relationship between women’s decision-making power and their roles in the public sphere, to better understand how autonomy can empower women’s leadership in specific cultural contexts.