Fair Shares and Families: a Child-Focused Model of Intra-Household Sharing

This article proposes a child-centric model for intra-family allocation – the sharing of resources within families – based on children’s and families’ accounts and reports of their experiences and perspectives. Studies of intra-household allocation have highlighted complex processes and outcomes within the ‘black box’ of the household, including inequities according to gender and parental prioritising of children’s needs when circumstances are constrained. Unsurprisingly, inequalities favouring children tend to be most pronounced among households attempting to manage on lower incomes, as the resources available for sharing are scarcer. However, children’s views have been notably absent from most studies, and the issue of intra-household allocation is complicated by increasing numbers of children living across multiple households – hence the focus here on intra-family, rather than intra-household, allocation. The model proposed here identifies four key dimensions of intra-family allocation, based on a longitudinal mixed-methods study with children and families in England. The model highlights the problematic nature of using the household as a unit of measurement when children are the unit of interest and/or analysis; and will be valuable in developing a more nuanced understanding of children’s material well-being.