Women’s Participation in Household Decision Making and Justification of Wife Beating: A Secondary Data Analysis from Pakistan’s Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Introduction: Globally, women’s empowerment is one of the important factors impacting the development of the nation. However, several women in developing countries, including Pakistan, experience a high level of gender discrimination and inequity. In this study, data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) were used to measure empowerment and its predictors among women in Pakistan. Methods: Pakistan’s 2017–2018 DHS dataset was used to measure women’s empowerment using two indicators, i.e., participation in decision making and views on wife beating among 4216 married women. The determinants of empowerment, such as age, place of residence, regions, wealth index, education, partner’s education, partner’s occupation, number of children, consanguinity, the age difference between husband and wife, house and land ownership, and house inheritance, are reported as prevalence ratios (PRs) with a 95% confidence intervals (CI). Multivariate regression models were used to produce covariate-adjusted PRs and 95% CIs. Results: More than half of all women were empowered (52.5%). Upon multivariate analysis, we identified that women from the province of Punjab (adjusted PR (aPR), 1.44; 95% CI, 1.20–1.73), Sindh (aPR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.35–1.96), and KPK (aPR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.91–1.31) compared to those living in Baluchistan; from the richest quantile (aPR, 1.65; 95% CI, 1.37–1.99), followed by the richer quantile (aPR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.28–1.84), the middle quantile (aPR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.28–1.81), and the poorer quantile (aPR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.04–1.47) compared to women who were from the poorest quantile; who were highly educated (aPR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.25–1.67), followed by those who had a secondary education (aPR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.16–1.50) and a primary education (aPR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.02–1.35) compared to women who were not educated; and had exposure to mass media (aPR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.06–1.36) compared to those who had no exposure were more empowered. Conclusion: To conclude, women’s empowerment in Pakistan is affected by various socioeconomic factors, as well as exposure to mass media. Targeted strategies are needed to improve access to education, employment, and poverty alleviation among women, particularly those living in rural areas. Various mass media advertisements should be practiced, targeting community norms and supporting women’s empowerment.

Magnitude and determinants of women's participation in household decision making among married women in Ethiopia, 2022: Based on Ethiopian demographic and health survey data

“…This shows that women living in rural setting had less participation in decision making. This finding was supported by a study in Bangladesh [ 20 ]. This can be explained by women in rural areas may have lower educational levels than the urban in which women face a lack of economic opportunities that impact their decision making and empowerment [ 20 ].…”

“…This finding was supported by a study in Bangladesh [ 20 ]. This can be explained by women in rural areas may have lower educational levels than the urban in which women face a lack of economic opportunities that impact their decision making and empowerment [ 20 ]. This implies, programs which are developed on wpmen empowerment should give especial attention for rural women.…”

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“…We removed non‐significant variables beginning with the variable with the least significant association (the one with the highest p ‐value) in a step‐by‐step process until all variables remaining had significant p ‐values (less than 5%; p < 0.05). The final multivariable model included one non‐significant variable (women's education level) often associated with women's participation in decision‐making (Ewerling et al, 2017; Lassi et al, 2021). We reported and examined the adjusted OR (aOR) with 95% CI for all variables and interpreted statistical significance as p < 0.05.…”

The Influences of Cultural Collectivism and Participation in Decision-Making on Women's Economic Empowerment in Zanzibar Tourism Industry

“…Scholars have argued that empowerment has a very wide coverage as a concept in the field of several disciplines such as community psychology, social work, health promotion, and organizational studies (Perkins, 2010). Empowerment takes shape from a context related to the social, cultural, economic, geographical, and political scenarios that a person experiences during his/her life course and his/her interaction with their gender roles in society (Lassi, Ali, & Meherali, 2021). Women empowerment is the process whereby women acquire the opportunity to strategic life choices and are given the right to decide on issues they were previously denied (Huis, Hansen, Otten & Lensink (2017).…”