Level Of Women Empowerment Research Articles

THE ABBREVIATED WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE INDEX: AN APPLICATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Gender inequality has important implications for any society and is particularly important for developing economies because of their large reliance on the agricultural sector where it is especially pronounced. Women are often a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy but face constraints that reduce their productivity and hinder their competitiveness in the sector. In this study we measure the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, as a standardized methodology that directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector, and quantify the level of women empowerment in the agricultural sector in the Republic of North Macedonia. Results show that women are disempowered in all domains in agriculture compared to men. More precisely, women are significantly disempowered in ownership of assets, input in decision making and control over use of income. Positive impact on the higher empowerment of the households and smaller gender parity gap is when women are responsible for farm accountancy within the agricultural household.

Empowerment of Women through MGNREGA in Nadia District of West Bengal

The basic objective of this study is to explain the impact of MGNREGA on women empowerment in the study area. The present study is based on primary data collected from 200 women of Santipur block in Nadia district, West Bengal during 2017-18. For measuring women empowerment, a Cumulative Empowerment Index (CEI) has been constructed. Three-point scale has been used to calculate of each indicator. In this study, possible score value of CEI is varied from 0–16where 0 indicates the lowest level of economic empowerment and 16indicatesthe highest level of economic empowerment. The analysis of the study shows that the level of women empowerment in the study area was not satisfactory because the majority (95.2%) of the studied women belonged to low to medium level of economic empowerment and only 5% of them belonged to a high empowerment level. Thus, it can be concluded that MGNREGA has affected women empowerment but it is not as high as expect from the scheme.

Does Micro-Credit Empower Women through Self-Help Groups? Evidence from Punjab, Northern India

The goal of this paper is to examine the question—‘Does income earned by members of women’s self-help groups (SHGs) through micro-credit programs empower them?’ The nature of the topic dictates the use of cross-sectional survey technique and comparative analysis to determine the levels of women empowerment before and after joining SHGs. A five-point Likert-type scale was developed, for which Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was observed to be 0.824. The survey instrument contained four sections, namely, income and expenditure; savings and borrowing amounts; financial freedom; and, capacity building and awareness levels. A sample group consisting of 114 participants of SHGs responded to the survey instrument. The t-test results for mean values before and after joining SHGs showed a significant change in levels of women empowerment in all the four areas. The prime reason for this empowerment was joining SHGs and using micro-credit programmes. It becomes apparent from this research that joining SHGs, and consequently, getting access to financial services increased the ability of poor women to control their savings and generate income from their occupation. They also experienced a greater decision-making role in their families and in local society, enhanced levels of self-confidence, self-efficacy and self-esteem, and heightened freedom of mobility to increase business and social activities outside home.

Marital Property Law: A Prerequisite for Progressive Divorce Reforms in India

Various efforts have been taken in India to further the cause of women empowerment in different domains. One such area is that of family law wherein since several decades, progressive divorce reforms are sought. However, as indicated by various socio-economic indicators, the desired level of women empowerment has not yet been achieved. One of the plausible causes for this plight faced by married women is higher economic inequality and uncertainty that they face in comparison to their male counterpart. This is because of the reason that a substantial proportion of married women in India are homemakers, and thus, dependent on their husband for financial sustenance and support. As a result, such women are not able to make informed decisions about the fate of their marriage even when they are stuck in a non-workable or abusive marriage. The present alimony and maintenance laws try to ensure economic stability for women post-divorce, but, such laws are rendered ineffective due to the uncertainty of realized outcome that they pose before the decision to terminate the marriage is actually made. Additionally, there is no marital property law to ensure that women accumulate their due share in property during the tenure of their marriage. The information about one’s own property rights earned during the marriage serves as a crucial decision parameter to make an informed choice about ending a non-fulfilling relationship. In this paper, I argue that the need of the hour is to introduce a marital property regime in India which can work as one of the possible mechanisms to empower women in the true sense.

Determinants of Women Empowerment

This paper focused upon understanding the concept of women empowerment and determinants critical to it. The study was conducted in Hyderabad region for determining women empowerment level on five key indicators identified from the literature. Primary data was collected through online questionnaire and informal interviews from randomly selected 200 female and 20 male respondents respectively. Results indicate women empowerment in Hyderabad on four out of five indicators i.e. economic participation, education, health and nutrition and media.

Role of Professional Women in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

Oil and gas activities in Southern part of Nigeria have exposed the region to environmental degradation and social vices. This problem has caused conflicts among stakeholders (government, community, companies, institutions, individuals), which has led to community clashes. These conflicts have resulted to the loss of lives and properties. They are also responsible for youth restiveness, low level of women empowerment and lack of peaceful coexistence in the region. This makes the promotion of understanding and dialogue to be a prime issue in the management of conflict, community peace and security. Professional women belong to professional bodies that spread into all works of life; academia, government, industry, legal institution, health sector, financial institutions, NGOs, security sector. This paper discussed issues on causes of conflict in Niger Delta, what roles should professional women play in attaining peace, global examples of professional women in conflict resolution, role of professional women in Niger Delta, way in which women engage in conflict resolution and challenges women face in conflict resolution and peace building. The paper concluded that time has come for everybody to be aware of gender equality and involvement in conflict resolution and peace building. Professional women need to intensify effort in achieving this.

EXTENSION REQUIREMENTS OF WOMEN SOCIO- ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN SIWA OASIS, MATROUH GOVERNORATE

The study aimed basically at: describing the level of respondent women empowerment in Siwa oasis, identifying the relationship between the level of respondent women empowerment and the studied variables, identifying the importance level of social and economic empowerment requirements, identifying the availability level of social and economic empowerment requirements and identifying the relationship between the importance level and the availability level of women empowerment in the study area. A systematic random sample of (310) women in Siwa oasis were selected to conduct the study. Data were collected through personal interviews with the selected respondent women using a questionnaire. The statistical analyzing tools used in the study were: Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, in addition to frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean, weighted arithmetic mean and standard deviation to present and describe data. The most important findings of the study were as follows - About (67.1%) of respondent women had a low level of social empowerment, while about (50.0%) of them had a low level of economic empowerment. - There was a significant positive relationship at 0.01 probability level between the respondents social empowerment level and the following variables: educational level, family size, cultural openness, monthly income, aspiration level, willingness to take risks, exposure to the resources of agricultural information, attitude towards agricultural extension, extension communication and general knowledge. - There was a significant positive relationship at 0.01 probability level between the respondents economic empowerment level and the following variables: educational level, family size, cultural openness, monthly income, aspiration level, willingness to take risks, exposure to the resources of agricultural information, attitude towards agricultural extension and extension communication.

Women Collective actions and Empowerment in Agricultural Value Chains in Simanjiro District Tanzania

Women face many barriers in accessing markets for their agricultural products. Collective action (CA) has been identified as a potential option to overcome such barriers and empower them. As such, they have been organising themselves in different forms of collective action through formal and informal organisations in order to raise the capital base required in production and to influence traditions, laws and regulations that hinder their active participation and benefits. This paper explored the relationship between women's participation in collective action initiatives and their empowerment. A cross-sectional research design was adopted, involving402 respondents in the survey. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to explore thetypes and benefits of collective actions. In the same vein, an index scales was used to gauge the extent of women empowerment and ordinal logistical regression was used to determine the relationship between participation in collective action and empowerment. Women in the study area were categorized into medium level of women empowerment (CEI=0.6033) while 45.8% were categorized into higher level of women empowerment and 13.6% and 16.4% were categorized into no and low empowerment levels respectively. Ordinal logistic regression model revealed that marital status, education level, access to credit and participation in any form of collective action were the most important factors for women empowerment (P

Influences of micro-credit programmes on women empowerment in Bangladesh

The focus of this study was to measure the impact of micro-credit programme on women empowerment in Bangladesh. Six leading NGOs/MFIs which operated micro-credit programmes were considered (namely ASA, BRAC, Grameen Bank, SSS, PROSHIKA and TMSS). A total of 406 credit-receivers were randomly selected from twenty-six villages in eight districts of Bangladesh viz., Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Netrokona, Kishoregonj, Sylhet, Lalmonirhat, and Narsingdi. The study revealed that 68.5 percent of the respondents could change their empowerment situation. By the estimated change in empowerment it was realised that 15.8 percent of the respondents experienced positive change in their empowerment situation. The main factors affecting the change in women empowerment were membership of different micro-credit organizations, poverty change due to micro-credit and use of loaned money. In single level logistic regression model, the change in poverty situation due to micro-credit had positive association with the perceived change in women empowerment. On the other hand, in multinomial regression analysis the change in poverty situation due to micro-credit had a negative impact on the estimated change in empowerment situation. This contradiction dictates for further investigation into the issue possibly at different component levels of women empowerment. Finally, this research recommended that micro-credit organizations should increase the amount of loan to at least Tk. 15000 encouraging the clients to invest in less risky business with efficient follow up programme.J. Bangladesh Agril. Univ. 14(1): 93-100, June 2016

Role Of Micro-Finance To The Empowerment of Women: A Case Study Of Karachi

This paper is an attempt to analyze the impact of micro financing to induce empowerment to those women who avail the facility of micro-credit in Pakistani society. The study examines the various business activities of women in Karachi who got capital through micro-financing and their socioeconomic status in family as well as society. The women empowerment as dependent variable has been used with three explanatory variables which are amount of micro-finance credit, age of the women and her family support to run her business. Logit Model is applied to assess the level of women empowerment because of binary dependent variable. Primary data has been collected through a questionnaire and in this way this is the first study in this research area using this methodology. Findings of the study indicates a positive correlation of all the variables to cause empowerment of women while family support to a woman has statistically significant impact to a woman. The study indicates the possibility of an improvement of society wellbeing and women empowerment if the direction of micro finance is focused towards women while the study is limited to Karachi region.

The Nexus between Child Marriage and Women Empowerment with Physical Violence in Two Culturally Distinct States of India

Summary. We investigated the relationship between child marriage among young women and their level of empowerment with spousal physical violence in two culturally distinct states of India (Bihar and Tamil Nadu) using nationally representative survey data. Empowerment index was calculated taking into account parameters such as mobility, economic independence, and decision-making power of a woman using Principal Component Analysis method. Lower level of women empowerment was significantly associated with physical violence in Tamil Nadu (OR = 2.38, p<0.01) whereas marriage before the age of 15 was associated with physical violence in Bihar (OR = 3.27, p<0.001). The mean age at marriage was low among women who reported physical violence as compared to those who did not report physical violence across Bihar and Tamil Nadu and at all India level. Although the majority of the women in Tamil Nadu justified wife beating and witnessed father beating mother as compared to the women from Bihar, however, they were less likely to report physical violence than women from Bihar. Factors contributing to physical violence are distinct in Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Culture specific intervention may be considered while planning intervention strategies to curb spousal violence against women.

Unheard Voices of Van Gujjar Women': A Thematic Analysis of Coping Patterns by Women in the Context of Sedentarization among Himalayan Pastoralists

The Van Gujjars families migrating to the Alpine pastures today face the same fate of being the ‘victims of conservation'. It started in the forest of foothills at the beginning of the 1990s with Rajaji National Park, but during the last decade most of the summer pastureland in the upper ranges has also been converted into national parks, global heritage sites or sanctuaries. Apart from National parks, Van Gujjars elsewhere had the right to graze their animals in parts of the forest against a fixed grazing fee. But now some forests are being closed by the implementation of Joint Forest Management Programmes. This Paper is based on a mixed research in which the quantitative aspect aimed at identifying the factors and levels of women empowerment before and after sedentarization through a Women empowerment Index. Qualitative research aimed to explore perspectives of young women from Gujjar community in terms of patterns of coping in their sedentarized life. Narratives of women presented a sense of collectivism and identification with issues and concerns of other Gujjars in terms of an identity of victimhood and a sense of being marginalized and socially excluded. Following patterns of coping emerged from narratives: Use of existing resources, Women as Livestock owners and managers, Women as Leaders in Migration, Work Participation and status of women, Women as Builders of Asset base, Gujjar women- the Natural resource managers, Coping through normalizing and acceptance, Coping in social matters and Assurance for moneylenders.

Trend and Levels of Women Empowerment in Nigeria

Women empowerment has become major factor in economic development and is increasingly at the core of countries’ competitiveness in the global economy. The main objective of this paper is to ascertain the trend and level of women empowerment in Nigeria by 2015. Secondary data from Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Nigeria Demographic and Education Survey (NDES), and National Population Commission (NPC) were used. Employment, education and literacy rate were adopted as measures of women empowerment. An overview of the relationship between women’s level of education and other background characteristics was carried out. The results showed that men are more likely than women to have some education. Over 40 percent of men are literate compared to 13 percent of women, which is similar to the results obtained from variables like occupation, agriculture, etc. Employment is one source of empowerment for women but unfortunately it is difficult to measure their employment status because the informal sectors are not reported. However, the data on hand indicates, for instance, that women and men currently employed in the North West are 46 and 54 percent respectively. Also, the employment rate of men and women in urban area are of the ratio 42:37 percent while the employment ratio of men to women in the rural area is 63:58. The study also hints that employment, education and literacy rate of women are strong determinants of economic growth and they should not be neglected as the nation works toward attaining vision 2020 goals.

Contraceptive Uptake Among Married Women in Uganda: Does Empowerment Matter?

Although contraceptive prevalence increased from 24% to 30% between 2006 and 2011, this uptake is still below global level of 62% and low levels of women empowerment could be a factor. Data was extracted from 2011 UDHS to examine associations between women’s empowerment and contraceptive uptake. We developed four empowerment indices symbolising economic and social empowerment, established associations between them and contraceptive use. Most women (83%) were from the rural areas and 61% were married for 10+ years. Most (59%) scored low on power over earnings and domestic violence indices. All indices independently were positively associated with contraceptive use, but only the reproductive health rights index was significant before (OR 2.13, 95% CI; 1.52-2.98) and after adjusting for background characteristics (AOR 1.72, 95% CI; 1.07-2.73). Empowered women were more likely to use contraceptives. More efforts in sensitisation of women about their sexual and reproductive health rights as well as ensuring more control over their earnings.

Evaluation of Women’s Work Empowerment and its Role in Economic Development in Rural Areas (Case study: Kounani District of Kouhdasht County)

Purpose: For the time being, the status of women in any society is an indicator of a society progress; indeed more attention will be paid to this fact day in day, and international organizations and institutes which involved in development activities have put their emphasis on this subject. One of the main important approaches to improve the women status is to empower their situation in important aspects of life and particularly in economic. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate the women empowerment and their role in development of rural area economy. Methodology: This paper is a practical, and the study was descriptive- analytical is survey. In which two ways documentary and is survey (Questionnaires and interviews) is used to collect the data needed. The study population, are residing rural womens in the Kounani district in Kouhdasht County (10895) among them 330 people, were selected by simple random sampling. Findings: The results of the study indicated that the highest level of women empowerment in economic sectors was related to agricultural activities, which had a direct and significant relation with age and income variables. It was also found that women, who had higher-level of empowerment, will be more capable of earning higher income. Research Limitation: One of the challenges of this study was to visit the area of the study and to prepare and fill out the questionnaire among rural women who were facing the traditional attitudes. Practical Implication: with conclude accurate recognition of women abilities in various fields of occupational and also to determine their potential and capabilities empowerment of, such interest, confidence, knowledge and expertise, local experience and knowledge, responsibility, and It is easier to achieve women's empowerment. Original/value: achieve to women's empowerment on the one hand can lead to a decrease in female unemployment and increase their ability to perform various activities, and on the other to improve social and economic conditions of their families and ultimately lead to rural development in various aspects.

Measuring the Impact of Microfinance on Women Empowerment: A Cross Country Analysis with Special Reference to India

The outreach of microfinance program is considered to be a means to enhance the economic opportunities among the women section of the population and thus have its far reaching implications to the empowerment of women. In this respect, a wide variation in the outreach of microfinance program to the women poor households is observed across countries of the world. In India, the states having higher level of microfinance outreach are also the states with a relatively high level of women empowerment. It is, thus, predicted that an all-inclusive microfinance system would strengthen the process of financial inclusion in India and thereby would promote women’s empowerment.

Women Empowerment and Local Governance: A Case Study of Sanand District of Gujarat

One of the fundamental aspects of modern democratic governance is gender equality wherein both men and women should have equal rights and opportunities to participate fully in all the endeavors and especially at political process, with respect to decision-making capacity. There is a growing momentum among the government and civil society to foster and ensure women's participation, leadership and empowerment in the political arena specifically with local governance structures In recent report of the United Nations Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) 2013, there is a list of 93 countries and they are ranked according to their women empowerment level in the country. Surprisingly, there is no place for India in the list of those 93 countries, which clearly shows that the level of women empowerment in the country is not much remarkable compared to the other countries of the world. Therefore, there is a growing demand for increasing women empowerment and presence of women in political decision making. Thus, women need to be ‘empowered’ in the realm of political decision-making so as to facilitate their ‘holistic’ empowerment. Women empowerment essentially involves building up of a society wherein women can breathe without the fear of oppression, exploitation, apprehension, discrimination and the general feeling of oppression, which goes with being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated structure. In order to ensure ‘holistic’ women empowerment, most of the women empowerment advocates argue that the empowerment of women should be through legislation for ensuring participation and decision-making in political process.

Women empowerment and practices regarding use of dual protection among family planning clients in urban Zimbabwe.

IntroductionGender related vulnerability may increase women's susceptibility to HIV infection and unintended pregnancy. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between women empowerment and practices regarding use of dual protection.MethodsA non-experimental descriptive correlational study design was conducted using systematic sampling method to recruit eighty women aged 18-49 years at an urban clinic in Zimbabwe. Data was collected using a structured interview schedule and was analysed and presented using descriptive and inferential statistics.ResultsA weak positive significant correlation existed between women empowerment and use of dual protection (r= .242, p=0.03). Findings demonstrated that as women empowerment levels increase practices regarding use of dual protection also increase. The coefficient of determination, R2=.0.058, b=0.293, indicated that the total amount of variation in utilization of dual protection explained by level of women empowerment was 5.8%. The major finding was that use of dual protection was very low (3.8%) and 67.5% had low levels of practices regarding use of dual protection. Additionally, 85.0% were not confident of using the female condom.ConclusionGender inequality within sexual relations was associated with low levels of practices regarding use of dual protection. The study provided evidence for the need for a proactive integrated approach to empower women so that they could negotiate for safer sex practices. To increase female condom utilization, manufacturers need to redesign the female condom so that it becomes user friendly. Health personnel need to involve men for any health reproductive program to succeed.

Modern contraceptive behaviour of Indian women: is spousal violence a constraint?

PurposeThe main goal of the paper is to study the effect of intimate partner violence on wives' participation in adopting modern contraceptive as a method of family planning in India.Design/methodology/approachThe authors' analysis uses data from the NFHS‐III (2005‐2006) based on a nationally representative sample of 109,041 households, and 124,385 women (15‐49 years). The sample covers 99 percent of India's population living in all 29 states. Both bivariate and multivariate techniques have been used to analyze data. The bivariate analysis in the form of scatter diagram has been used to examine the association between “use of modern contraceptive” and “spousal violence”, while multivariate analysis in the form of logistic regression has been carried out to assess this association after controlling other variables.FindingsThe study reveals that spousal violence negatively affects wives' participation in adoption of modern contraceptive, but that their knowledge of contraceptive, religion, and level of women empowerment should be taken into account as well. Women with higher knowledge about contraceptive have been found to use more modern contraceptive. Muslim women have relatively lower modern contraceptive prevalence rate and they have an inclination for traditional methods. Similarly, modern contraceptive prevalence is lower among women who enjoy relatively higher empowerment. In fact, it has been found from the study that women empowerment has a high positive correlation with traditional contraceptive prevalence rate.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt at examining the association between spousal violence and contraceptive behaviour in India on a national basis covering every corner of the country. The findings of the study clearly stress the importance of spousal violence prevention measures as supplemental to family planning measures. However, it will be erroneous to assume that mere passing of bills in the parliament and making laws will solve the problem which is deeply rooted in the society.

A Spatial Analysis of Human Development and the Level of Women Empowerment in the Karnataka State

The present investigation aims at analyzing the regional disparities in the levels of Human development and finding out the relationship between the Human development and the level of women empowerment in the Karnataka state. Five variables namely; Female Literacy rate to total literacy rate, Sex ratio, Child sex ratio, working female Population to total working population and Total crime against women have been taken into consideration to assess the levels of women empowerment of the state. District wise secondary data has been collected from census and the Karnataka State human development report. The Composite index method has been computed to ascertain the level of women empowerment, which is depicted in choropleth map, and the correlation co-efficient, is used to find out the relationship between Human development index and the level of women empowerment. The analysis reveals that the southern and coastal parts of Karnataka have a higher share of human development index and higher level of women empowerment. The study also reveals that there is a positive relationship between human development and the level of women empowerment in the state.Keywords: Human development index; Women empowerment; Literacy; Working population