Women’s empowerment is crucial for sustainable development and the realisation of human rights for all. This study aims to categorise women’s empowerment levels—low, medium, and high—using the Survey-based Women’s Empowerment Index (SWPER) and to analyse the relationship between these levels and various child and women’s health indicators, using data from the latest three rounds of nationwide BDHS surveys. In Bangladesh, as of 2022, the majority of women were found to be moderately empowered (74.61 per cent), followed by highly empowered (18.16 per cent) and low empowered (7.22 per cent). Several factors showed significant associations with women’s empowerment, including age, educational attainment, gender of the household head, employment status, age at first childbirth, exposure to mass media, place of residence, and administrative division. The analysis revealed notable disparities in child health outcomes based on maternal empowerment levels. Children of low-empowered mothers experienced the highest rates of childhood stunting (28.6 per cent, p<0.001), wasting (12.1 per cent, p<0.01), and underweight (25.05 per cent, p<0.001). An inverse relationship was observed between women’s empowerment and nutritional status. For instance, a consistently higher prevalence of underweight was observed among women with low empowerment across all assessed domains—decision-making, social independence, and tolerance of violence—relative to highly empowered women. Similarly, institutional childbirth was consistently higher among highly empowered mothers across all empowerment domains over the years. These findings underscore the vital role of women’s empowerment in improving maternal and child health outcomes in Bangladesh. To advance sustainable development and promote human rights, it is imperative to implement policies that prioritise women’s empowerment at all levels of society.
Sarker et al. (Tue,) studied this question.