Empowerment of women and its determinants in India: a state level analysis with NFHS-5 data

Purpose This study examines the status of women’s empowerment and its socio-economic determinants based on living conditions across 22 Indian states and Union Territories by constructing a composite women empowerment index of six components including women participation in three household decisions(%) based on data from the National Family Health Survey(NFHS)-5, Phase I. Design/methodology/approach We carry out a principal component analysis (PCA) for constructing a women empowerment index based on the above six indicators using a correlation matrix. Then we apply a static panel data approach to find out the role of socio-economic determinants such as per capita income (State level per capita GDP), years of schooling, the underage marriage of girls, the standard of living conditions such as access to safe drinking water, sanitization facility, use of iodized salt, etc. Findings The constructed composite index based on PCA determines one composite index for each time period, that is 2015–2016 and 2019–2020. The static panel regression is run for the composite index and six components of the index. The regression results considering eight socioeconomic and living conditions parameters demonstrate that the variables like the use of clean fuel cooking, the underage marriage of women, access to improved sanitation facility have an important impact in explaining variations in women empowerment over the years. Originality/value The major observations of this study in understanding the status and determinants of women empowerment across Indian states clearly show that women education is the key to improving women empowerment apart from several living condition variables. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2023-0015