Second, the main ethnic group in rural Malawi, the
Chewa, is a matrilineal one, in which women are likely to have more bargaining power and
authority within the household than women in patrilineal societies common in much of the
rest of Africa and South Asia. This higher female empowerment might indicate that women
are in a good position to implement the recommendations given by the counselors as well as
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to encourage fathers to work more. It is not clear whether such responses may emerge in
other settings and we see this as an area worthy of further investigation.