Differentials and determinants of women empowerment in Tamil Nadu

The present study was conducted on a large sample of 3600 married women aged 15 – 49 years selected from both the rural and urban areas of three different districts of Tamil Nadu indicate that the overall level of women empowerment is around 50 percent of the expected level in both the rural and urban areas. The empowerment level of women on various dimensions indicate that the women are relatively more empowered (around 60 – 70 percent) in socio-cultural, familial and psychological, it is moderate (around 45 percent) in economic empowerment and it is very poor (less than 25 percent) in legal and political. The factors significantly associated with the women empowerment are: age of women, type of marriage, education of women and her husband, occupation of women and her husband, membership in SHG and exposure to mass media.