Household-level Analysis ofWomen’s Power Practice in Old Dhaka City, Bangladesh

PERVIN, Shahida and KHAN, Md. Azam and SHAH, Md. Mahmud Hasan (2014): Household-level Analysis ofWomen’s Power Practice in Old Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Published in: Journal of Comparative Asian Development , Vol. 13, No. 1 (8 April 2014): pp. 174-203.

Abstract

This 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.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Age at marriage; husband-to-wife age gap; logistic regression; Old Dhaka; self-worth and decision making; Women’s Power Index
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

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