Socio-Economic Variables Affecting Empowerment of Women in Nepal: A Statistical Investigation (A Case Study of Kanchanpur)

The idea of Women Empowerment came forward when the Third International Women's Conference at Nairobi in 1985 introduced and defined “women empowerment-as a redistribution of social power and control of resources in favor of Women” (Goswami, 2013). According to lexicon empower means to make or cause power, to give power or authority to someone, to provide ability or to enable. Hence meaning refer to power as given granted or permitted. The main point behind empowerment is that, it seeks to change society through a rearrangement of power. Empowerment is an active, multidimensional process which enables women to realize their full identity and power in all spheres of life. Power is not a commodity to be translated; nor alms to be given away. Power has to be acquired and once acquired; it needs to be exercised, sustained and preserved. A women's power-her decision-making role and influence and control over resources is almost negligible in many households of the Mid and Far west regions of Nepal. Denmark and Norway are considered the happiest nation of the world because of the equal status enjoyed by the women and also by improved access and control of resources by women. The main objective of this study is to know the status of women's empowerment and their socio-economic status in Nepal in the background of various socio-economic and cultural variables.

Women empowerment mostly depends upon their education and decision making. Factors affecting the empowerment of women are also shown in this paper. It also observed that women empowerment depends on their present age. This study has shown that education of women is the most important factor which affects the empowerment of women in the society.