Family Code refers to institutions that influence the decision making power of women in the household. It contains four variables:

• early marriage measures the percentage of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 who are married, divorced or widowed, providing an indication of forced or arranged marriages;
• polygamy measures the acceptance within a society of men having multiple wives; women in polygamous relationships are frequently prevented from pursuing a professional or academic career and are generally much younger than their husband;
• parental authority measures whether women have the same right to be a legal guardian of a child during marriage, and whether women have custody rights over a child after divorce;
• inheritance measures whether widdows and daughters have equal rights as heirs; in many countries, inheritance is the only way in which women can obtain ownership of land, for example.