Analysis on the Level of Women's Empowerment in Nigeria: Emphasis on Participation in Household Decision Making by Currently Married Women In

Abstract

Although women constitute almost half of the country's population, their participation in matters such as decision-making in the family still calls for attention. Giving much attention to improving the rights, status of women is of great importance for the national growth and development of any nation since the issue of women empowerment is a global concern. Previous studies conducted on women's empowerment have shown that it is multidimensional, and as such there is no universally acceptable or general indicator of women's empowerment because it encompasses many dimensions such as economic, socio-cultural, familial/interpersonal and the likes This study seeks to look at women's empowerment in relation to some of their socio-cultural background characteristics of currently married women or women living with partners aged 15-49 in Nigeria. The study used women/individual data from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS), in which women's empowerment was measured by women's participation in household decision-making. The result obtained shows that women's age, age at first marriage, their level of education, place of residence (urban/rural), standard of living (low, medium and high) and the number of children have significant contributions in the women's ability to participate in household decision making or in general her empowerment.