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Empowerment of women from the experience of Indian states: a reflection of NFHS-5

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Abstract

The present study attempts to analyze the level of women's empowerment across India based on the recently released NFHS-5 (National Family Health Survey) dataset. To delineate interstate disparities in women's empowerment, the Women Empowerment Index has been constructed using six dimensions and eighteen variables. A correlation matrix has also been used to evaluate the relationships between the chosen variables. The study reveals that Goa, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Sikkim have comprehensive levels of women's empowerment, while Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Bihar have significantly lower levels. The study further discloses that the persistency of low women empowerment is not only concentrated across the so called ‘BIMARU’ (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) states but also in several other states including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura. Surprisingly, Kerala, frequently cited for its high status of women, is not among the top fifteen states whereas, a relatively underdeveloped state like Chhattisgarh claims third place in women empowerment index. The study recommends that along with all other government initiatives, there should be a strong focus on women's empowerment, particularly their ability to make decisions and participate economically in society.

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Data availability

The data use in the study is freely available on the NFHS-5 report which is available at https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR375/FR375.pdf

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  1. Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Saheli Kumar & Soumyabrata Mondal

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Saheli Kumar has conceptualized the idea, prepared the draft of the manuscript, analysis the data, and interpreted the results. Soumyabrata Mondal has revised the draft, finalized the draft and prepared the maps.

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For the present study, “ethics approval and consent to participate” is not required because study does not involve human participants, their data, or biological material; however, our study area lies under the economics subject. The data used in the analysis is purely secondary data published by DHS and IIPS. Moreover, the data is freely available on their website, which everybody can use.

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Table 3 State-wise dimension index values of the indicators of women empowerment
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Kumar, S., Mondal, S. Empowerment of women from the experience of Indian states: a reflection of NFHS-5. GeoJournal 89, 64 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-024-11065-y

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