The paper examines intrahousehold resource allocation in Kenya and if there exists
gender bias. The assumption of a unitary household model is relaxed and a collective
household model is used. Demographic separability tests are then carried out to identify
‘adult goods’ i.e. goods that have pure income effect with the addition of a child in the
household. The Deaton Model (1997) is then used to examine the behaviour of budget
share of adult goods with total expenditure and lastly tests are carried out using the
outlay equivalent ratios to establish if there is gender bias within the households. The
Kenya Welfare Monitoring Survey Data for 1997 was analysed; alcohol failed to pass
the demographic separability test in urban areas, the study however does not find any
gender bias using the Deaton (1997) model. The study concludes that there is a need
for further research in this area using individual data.