Determinants of Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh: New Evidence from Panel Data Analysis

Abstract: Using panel data from Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) 2015 and 2018, this study finds determinants of women empowerment (WE) on how individual and household characteristics affect the WE indicators. By estimating random effects models, we observe that a woman’s higher human capital (age and education) and household wealth tend to improve WE, whereas higher human capital of her husband, his participation in paid jobs, and need for taking care of young children and the elderly tend to worsen WE. On the other hand, the woman’s participation in paid jobs has mixed effects: it improves WE in terms of autonomy in agricultural production, asset ownership, control over income and speaking in public, whereas it worsens WE in terms of input in productive decisions and excessive workload. Keywords: Women’s Empowerment, WEAI, Bangladesh, Panel Data