Empowering women economically is more important than personal and socio-cultural empowerment. Analysis of 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey

Abstract

Abstract Background Empowering women economically may boost household income, economic growth, the adoption of healthcare services, and the elimination of poverty. This means that when women are economically empowered, they are also personally and socio- culturally empowered. Studies have revealed that women economic empowerment is still low, particularly in developing countries like Kenya. This paper explores the determinants of women empowerment among married women in Kenya. Understanding women’s empowerment is necessary to overcoming poverty, achieving economic development and gender equality. Methods We analyzed secondary data from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. For the final analysis, we used a weighted sample of 18,312 currently married women. All frequencies and percentages in the results section are weighted. At the multivariate stage of analysis, the effect of explanatory variables on women empowerment was investigated using multilevel mixed effects logistic regression model. We computed adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Variables with a P-value of less than 0.05 in the multi variable binary logistic regression analysis were considered statistically significant predictors of the outcome variable. Results Out of all women who are economically empowered, 80% are empowered in all the three dimensions of empowerment. Out of 18, 312 women, 61% are both personally and social-culturally empowered, 20% are social-culturally and economically empowered, while 19% are personally and economically empowered. This indicates that economic empowerment plays an important role in the formation of personal and social-cultural empowerment. Conclusions Generally, women empowerment in our study was low (17.7%). It is highly affected by socio demographic and economic characteristics of women and husbands’ characteristics. This study indicates that educating women, improving their economic status through employment opportunities, empowering women to be head of household will enhance their economic empowerment.