Measurement of Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh

Simeen Mahmud; Nirali M. Shah; Stan Becker

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.08.003

Measurement of Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh

Simeen Mahmud, Nirali M. Shah, Stan Becker

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

125 Scopus citations

Abstract

Women's empowerment is a dynamic process that has been quantified, measured, and described in a variety of ways. We measure empowerment in a sample of 3,500 rural women in 128 villages of Bangladesh with five indicators. A conceptual framework is presented, together with descriptive data on the indicators. Linear regressions to examine effects of covariates show that a woman's exposure to television is a significant predictor of three of the five indicators. A woman's years of schooling is significantly associated with one of two self-esteem indicators and with freedom of mobility. Household wealth has a significant and positive association with a woman's resource control but a significant negative association with her total decision-making score.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	610-619
Number of pages	10
Journal	World Development
Volume	40
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.08.003
State	Published - Mar 2012
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Bangladesh
Choice
Empowerment
Measurement
Self-esteem
South Asia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Development
Sociology and Political Science
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.08.003

Cite this

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title = "Measurement of Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh",

abstract = "Women's empowerment is a dynamic process that has been quantified, measured, and described in a variety of ways. We measure empowerment in a sample of 3,500 rural women in 128 villages of Bangladesh with five indicators. A conceptual framework is presented, together with descriptive data on the indicators. Linear regressions to examine effects of covariates show that a woman's exposure to television is a significant predictor of three of the five indicators. A woman's years of schooling is significantly associated with one of two self-esteem indicators and with freedom of mobility. Household wealth has a significant and positive association with a woman's resource control but a significant negative association with her total decision-making score.",

keywords = "Bangladesh, Choice, Empowerment, Measurement, Self-esteem, South Asia",

author = "Simeen Mahmud and Shah, {Nirali M.} and Stan Becker",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. R01 HD042542-2 ). The Associates for Community and Population Research was responsible for data collection. The authors express their gratitude to three anonymous referees for their useful comments on an earlier draft of the paper. The authors are solely responsible for the contents of the study. ",

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AU - Mahmud, Simeen

AU - Shah, Nirali M.

AU - Becker, Stan

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AB - Women's empowerment is a dynamic process that has been quantified, measured, and described in a variety of ways. We measure empowerment in a sample of 3,500 rural women in 128 villages of Bangladesh with five indicators. A conceptual framework is presented, together with descriptive data on the indicators. Linear regressions to examine effects of covariates show that a woman's exposure to television is a significant predictor of three of the five indicators. A woman's years of schooling is significantly associated with one of two self-esteem indicators and with freedom of mobility. Household wealth has a significant and positive association with a woman's resource control but a significant negative association with her total decision-making score.

KW - Bangladesh

KW - Choice

KW - Empowerment

KW - Measurement

KW - Self-esteem

KW - South Asia

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Measurement of Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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