Gender Differences in the Level of Economic Empowerment of Farm-Households of Manipur

The present study attempts to capture differences in the level of economic empowerment between male and female members of the same household. The study was conducted in Imphal West district of Manipur taking a random sample of 69 farm-households. The primary male and female members of each household were personally interviewed. A gender neutral economic empowerment index comprising of six indicators was developed for the study. It was found that male respondents had significantly higher empowerment level in four indicators of empowerment viz.; access and control over productive assets; access and control over economic resources; autonomy & mobility and time. If the overall empowerment level was considered, the index for male respondents (0.71) was found to be significantly higher than that of female respondents (0.57). It was also revealed that land holding had a significant association with the empowerment of the female respondents whereas cosmopoliteness had significant association with the empowerment level of the male respondents.