Household-level Analysis of Women's Power Practice in Old Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

AbstractThis study examines the extent of women's power in Old Dhaka City and determines the influential factors behind their practice of power. One finding is that the women in this city are moderately empowered, as indicated by the 5D Women's Power Index (WPI). The indices of self-worth with regard to decision making, decision-making opportunity, and ability to control and regulate one's own life show good performance, whereas the aspects of mobility and access to resources show moderate performance. The women in Old Dhaka have aspirations in life and confidence in their abilities. The logistic regression shows that educational attainment, age at the time of marriage of women and the husband-to-wife age gap positively affect the WPI at the 5% level of significance, whereas the income of women affects the WPI at the 10% level. However, the educational attainment of husbands and the existence of traditional socio-cultural norms have no effect on women's power.