Measuring and Modeling the Domestic Empowerment of Rural Women in Pakistan

Abstract

Exploring the empowerment status of women is a complex phenomenon especially within the multi-cultural and regional society of Pakistan, and it remains the focus of interest for investigators. The authoritative position of women is mainly dependent on a series of many different factors particularly when subjects under study are from rural areas. So, in this situation, the statistical studies reinforce towards the utilization of dependence methods. However, in this paper we have not only constructed the authoritative index as an indicator of authority status of ever-married women belonging to the desert area of Pakistan but also have modelled the authority status at aggregate as well as component level using multiple dichotomous logistic regression in connection with Stepwise Likelihood Ratio Method (SLRM). Among the respondents, 33.50 percent have no authority status of any kind. The mean age of the respondents is 32.86 years. The average annual family income of the respondents is approximately PKR 9,900. We have found that the age of the respondent, education of the respondent, education of the respondent’s husband, livestock ownership of the household and family size are the most significant determinants of authoritative position of evermarried women in the Cholistan rural area of Pakistan.