International Journal of Human Ecology

The Korean Home Economics Association (대한가정학회)
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Factors Affecting the Extent of Economic Empowerment of Women in Farm Households: Experiences from Rural Bangladesh

  • Parveen, Shahnaj (Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University) ;
  • Leonhauser, Ingrid-Ute (Centre for International Development and Environment Research, Justus-Liebig University)
  • Published : 2008.12.30
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Abstract

The study identifies gender stereotypes, examines the level of women's economic empowerment at the household level and explores the influence of factors on it. Data were collected from 159 randomly selected farm women using both qualitative and quantitative survey methods between January and March 2007 from three villages of the Mymensingh District of Bangladesh. Four key informants (2 local leaders and 2 development personnel) were questioned to elicit views in the light of boosting women's empowerment. Five constructs of empowerment covering 30 indicators were aggregated together to develop a cumulative economic empowerment index (CEEI) to obtain multidimensional views of women's empowerment. The findings show that there were some prejudices against women in allocating divisions of labour and access to education, food, property, decision-making and institutions. The distribution of the CEEI demonstrates that the majority of the respondents (86%) had a low to moderate level of empowerment. A multiple regression analysis showed positive significant effects of education, training, media contact and freedom of mobility on women's CEEI, while domestic abuse restrained it. It is concluded that interventions by development agencies in co-ordination with the local community was necessary to attain women's self-reliance in the study area. Development actors can undertake some core strategies to enhance women's level of awarencess, knowledge, skills, and productive resources through providing training, loans, and information. To change traditional beliefs, it is important to create awareness of various gender issues amongst rural people through different methods and media.

Keywords

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