The effect of home ownership on the independence and participation of Kurdish women in society. A quantitative study of Sanandaj in Iran

Abstract

Housing is a great family asset, especially in developing countries. Since economic resources bring social and political power, home ownership can be very influential in enhancing people's socio‐political power. The benefits of home ownership become even more notable among groups of people who were deprived of such power. In Sanandaj, home ownership shows a much lower rate among women than among men, and it is therefore interesting to know whether an increase would empower women and in what ways.Methodologically, this study used the Sanandaj Document Registration Office as well as a survey (a questionnaire filled out by 300 female homeowners in Sanandaj) to collect the data. The analysis of the data is based on the Kendall correlation test and Path analysis test. The research results show that there is a very high correlation between home ownership (as an independent variable) and economic independence, decision‐making independence and participation of women in urban communities (as dependent variables). The article concludes that home ownership can significantly improve the independence and participation of Kurdish women in Sanandaj, and makes a number of policy recommendations to reach this goal.