Bhandari Tulsi Ram, Kutty V Raman, Ravindran T K Sundari
Department of Public Health, School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Lekhnath-12, Kaski, Nepal.
Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Thiruvananthapuram - 695011, Kerala, India.
PLoS One. 2016 Jan 22;11(1):e0147473. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147473. eCollection 2016.
Despite various efforts for enhancing women's autonomy in developing countries, many women are deprived of their capacity in decision-making on their household affairs as well as social issues. This paper aimed to examine women's autonomy and its associated factors in the Kapilvastu district of Nepal. We measured women's autonomy using a recently developed women's autonomy measurement scale from June to October 2014. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and logistic multivariate modeling technique were applied for assessing the association of demographic and socio-economic characteristics of women and their autonomy. Mean score for women's autonomy was 23.34 ± 8.06 out of the possible maximum 48. It was found to be positively associated with higher age difference at marriage, advantaged caste/ethnicity, better employment for the husband, couple's education more than 10 years schooling, and higher economic status of the household. We found strong direct effect of women's education (OR = 8.14, CI = 3.77-17.57), husband's education (OR = 2.63, CI = 1.69-4.10) and economic status of household (OR = 1.42, CI = 1.01-2.03) on women's autonomy. When we adjusted women's education for husband's education, the odds ratio decreased by around 22% {from (OR = 8.14, CI = 3.77-17.57) to (OR = 6.32, CI = 2.77-14.46)} and was a mediator effect. The economic status of household also had mediator effect on women's autonomy through their education. Education status of women is a key predictor of women's autonomy in Kapilvastu district. Husband's education and economic status of the household are other important predictors of women's autonomy which have a mediator effect on women's autonomy. Improving educational status and economic conditions of both women and their husbands may be the best solution to promote women's autonomy.
尽管发展中国家为增强妇女自主权做出了各种努力，但许多妇女在家庭事务以及社会问题的决策能力方面仍被剥夺。本文旨在研究尼泊尔卡皮拉瓦斯图地区妇女的自主权及其相关因素。2014年6月至10月，我们使用最近开发的妇女自主权测量量表来衡量妇女的自主权。应用描述性统计、卡方检验和逻辑多元建模技术来评估妇女的人口统计学和社会经济特征与其自主权之间的关联。妇女自主权的平均得分为23.34 ± 8.06（满分48分）。研究发现，它与结婚时较大的年龄差、优势种姓/族裔、丈夫更好的就业情况、夫妻双方超过10年的受教育年限以及家庭较高的经济地位呈正相关。我们发现妇女教育（OR = 8.14，CI = 3.77 - 17.57）、丈夫教育（OR = 2.63，CI = 1.69 - 4.10）和家庭经济地位（OR = 1.42，CI = 1.01 - 2.03）对妇女自主权有很强的直接影响。当我们将妇女教育调整为丈夫教育时，优势比下降了约22% {从（OR = 8.14，CI = 3.77 - 17.57）降至（OR = 6.32，CI = 2.77 - 14.46）}，这是一种中介效应。家庭经济地位也通过妇女的教育对妇女自主权产生中介效应。在卡皮拉瓦斯图地区，妇女的教育状况是妇女自主权的关键预测因素。丈夫的教育和家庭经济地位是妇女自主权的其他重要预测因素，它们对妇女自主权有中介效应。改善妇女及其丈夫的教育状况和经济条件可能是促进妇女自主权的最佳解决方案。
