Association of empowerment level and socio-economic condition of women in Harahua block of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

The study was conducted to assessthe relationship between socio-economic indicators and women empowerment in Harahua block of district Varanasi, India during 2012. One hundred twenty five rural women were sampled for the study. The relevant variables were selected based upon the available literature and the works done in this field prior to the present investigation. Age, caste, marital status, family size, family type, land holding capacity, family income, housing pattern and occupation were used as a socio-economic indicators. A structured interview schedule was used for collection of the data through personal interview method. Data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and chi-square test. The socio-economic profile of rural women indicated that majority of them were middle aged (51.2%), married (56%) and belonged to other backword (OBC) caste (60%). Majority belonged to small and nuclear family (63.2%) having marginal land holding (51.2); most of the respondents belong to medium size family (59.2%) i.e. 5 to 10 members under medium income ( 21900 to 34700) category (44%) having Pucca house (61.6%). Among nine selected socio-economic indicators i.e., age, marital status, caste, family type, land holding, family size, income of the family, house and occupation, only four variables have relationship with women empowerment.