Assessing the pattern of key factors on women’s empowerment in Bangladesh: Evidence from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2007 to 2017–18

by Sahera Akter, Md. Solayman Hosen, Md. Shehab Khan, Bikash Pal

With half a female population, empowering women can be a key factor in our country’s global advancement. Focusing on household decision-making and attitudes toward wife beating, our study addresses the dearth of research exploring how different socio-economic and demographic factors associated with women’s empowerment evolve over the past decade in Bangladesh (from BDHS 2007 to BDHS 2017–18).

Data from four waves of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS, 2007 to BDHS, 2017–18) were used in this study. We put forth two domains—household decision-making and attitudes toward domestic violence—to assess women’s empowerment. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to create women’s empowerment index. To assess the unadjusted association between the selected covariates and women’s empowerment, Pearson Chi-square test and ANOVA F test have been used, while adjusted association has been analyzed through proportional odds model (POM).

In BDHS 2017–18, women from urban areas experienced ‘high’ empowerment than women in rural areas (56.08% vs. 45.69%). A notable change has been observed in the distribution of women’s empowerment index by education over the survey years. Findings also showed that in all the survey years, division, place of residence, education level, number of living children, media exposure, wealth index, working status, and relationship with household head have been found to have significant association with women’s empowerment index. For instance, women who completed secondary education in 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017–18, respectively have 14.4%, 31.8%, 24.6%, and 39.6% higher odds of having empowerment compared to those who were uneducated. Further, age at first marriage, spousal age gap, NGO membership etc. emerged as a contributing factor in specific survey years.

Our study affirmed that, over a ten-year period, women were more likely to protest against physical violence and to participate in various decision-making regarding their personal and social life. Empowerment is notably higher among women in urban residents, those with secondary education, 1–2 children, media exposure, and employment. Policy recommendations should emphasize targeted measures to raise awareness and empower uneducated, unemployed, economically disadvantaged, and physically oppressed women.