HOUSEHOLD RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND WOMEN’S DECISION-MAKING: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF FAMILY WELFARE PRACTICES IN JODHPUR DISTRICT

Abstract

Household resource management is a crucial yet underexplored dimension of family welfare and women’s contribution to social development. In most households, women play a central role in managing financial, human, material, and time resources while simultaneously making decisions related to childcare, healthcare, food planning, education, and family coordination. Although these responsibilities are fundamental to the functioning of households, they remain insufficiently recognized within mainstream management studies. The present study examines household resource management as a practical managerial process and analyses women’s role in decision-making related to family welfare in Jodhpur District, Rajasthan. The study is based on primary data collected from 100 women respondents through structured questionnaires and supported by relevant secondary literature. It explores the ways in which women allocate household resources, prioritize competing needs, manage expenditure, coordinate care responsibilities, and contribute to the overall well-being of the family. The findings reveal that women’s decision-making plays a decisive role in financial planning, time management, educational supervision, healthcare coordination, interpersonal relationship management, and resource optimization. The study argues that household resource management is a multidimensional managerial process closely linked with family welfare, social stability, and sustainable development, and that women’s unpaid household decision-making deserves greater academic and policy recognition.