This paper explores the impact of women’s work on empowerment in Egypt. Existing evidence
suffers from several limitations, which I attempt to address. First, I develop an instrumental variable
strategy to account for the endogeneity of work. Second, I allow for a heterogeneous impact
of work, distinguishing between working in the public sector, outside work in the private sector
and home-based work. Third, women’s empowerment is directly measured as their participation
in household decisions. Outside work has the greatest impact. Interestingly, home-based work enhances
joint decision-making. Distinguishing between urban and rural residence reveals distinct
patterns of impact on decision-making.