Measuring Women's Empowerment in Rwanda

Arbeitspapier

This study examines the determinants of women's empowerment in Rwanda using data obtained from DHS 2010. A regression analysis is used to investigate the association between women's empowerment and its covariates. The study also uses a multinomial logistic regression to assess what determines households' decision-making and attitudes towards physical abuse of spouses. Variables of sources of empowerment such as education and media exposure were found to have a net positive association with women's empowerment while other variables such as residence and the age at first marriage were negatively associated with women's empowerment. Further analysis showed that the effects of education, age of the respondent, wealth and the number of children ever born remained strong conditions which effected households' decision-making and attitudes about physical abuse. In general, therefore, it seems that for women to fully realize their potential and rights, specific emphasis should be put on variables that increase their access to resources and knowledge such as education, employment for cash and media exposure but variables that are negatively associated with women's empowerment such as higher age at first marriage should also be taken into account.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 10131

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Health and Economic Development ; Education and Economic Development ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
• Subject: women's empowerment ; physical abuses ; household decision-making ; Rwanda

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Musonera, Abdou ; Heshmati, Almas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/145265
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET