Attitude towards women empowerment among husbands of eligible couples in a rural area of Hooghly district, West Bengal

Abstract

Background: Empowerment is an important determinant of women's health. The most important social factor of women empowerment is her partner's perception toward it. The attitude of men toward women empowerment is one of the major public health and human rights issues in the world today. With this background, the current study was designed to explore the attitude toward women empowerment among husbands of eligible couples. Materials and Methods: It was a community-based observational study, cross-sectional in design conducted from March to June 2016, carried out in a rural area of Hooghly district, West Bengal among 125 husbands of eligible couples. Data were analyzed using IBM statistical package for social sciences, SPSS statistical software program (version 16) by appropriate statistical methods. Results: Among husbands of eligible couples, favorable attitude toward women empowerment was found to be 20%. In univariate logistic regression, husbands age (odds ratio, (OR)-2.9 [1.1–7.4]), educational status (OR-3.2 [1.1–9.4]), wives age (OR-2.9 [1.1–7.4]), type of family (OR-3.3 [1.1–9.4]), and religion (OR-7.3 [2.8–19.1]) were significant predictors of husbands attitude toward women empowerment. In the final multivariable logistic regression model, husband education (adjusted OR, AOR-3.3 [1.1–9.6]) and religion (AOR-4.7 [1.5–14.5]) were significant predictors of husbands attitude toward women empowerment adjusted with husbands age with (predictive accuracy rate) PAR of 81.6%. Conclusion: Favorable attitude toward women empowerment was quite low. Husbands educational status and religion were some key predictors of women empowerment. Awareness generation campaigns with the involvement of religious leaders to improve attitude toward women empowerment, especially in reluctant religious pockets, should be organized.