The impact of women’s education and employment on their empowerment: an empirical evidence from household level survey

Abstract

This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of women’s education and employment on their empowerment. Secondary data of Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2012–2013 has been used for Binary Logistic regression analysis. Women’s participation in decision making has been used as a proxy of women empowerment. According to our measure, women are consider empowered if they have participation in decisions regarding their own health care, mobility, spending of household income, major household purchases and decision regarding contraceptive use. Results show that both women’s education and employment play an important role in women empowerment. Educated women are more likely to participate in decision making regarding their own health care, major household purchases, visits to family and relatives, spending of household earnings and decision regarding contraceptive use as compared to uneducated women. Employment of women has also been found positively associated with their participation in decisions regarding their own health care, major household purchases, visits to family or relatives and spending of household earning.