In this paper,we explore a unique exogenous instrument to examine how the intra-familial
position of women influence health outcomes of their children using micro data from Ghana.
Using the 2SLS-IV estimation technique, I build a model of household bargaining and child
health development with perceptions of women regarding wife-beating and marital rape in the
existence of domestic violence laws, in Ghana. Even though the initial OLS estimates suggest
that women’s participation in decisions regarding purchases of household consumption goods
help to improve child health outcomes, the IV estimates reveal that the presence of endogeneity
underestimates the impact of women’s bargaining power on child health outcomes. Our
Hausman test for endogeneity also confirms that child-health investment decisions is mediated
through domestic violence laws, which protect women from physical and sexual abuse in the
household. Our results are also robust to rural residency and father characteristics controls.