Article Title: Economic and Psycho-social Determinants of Psychological Empowerment in Women
Author(s): Syeda Azra Batool, Hafiz Khalil Ahmed and Shazia Noureen Qureshi
Institute(s): Department of Economics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan; Department of Economics, University of the Punjab, Lahore; Punjab University Law College, University of the Punjab, Lahore
Journal: Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2016, Vol. 14, No.1, 21-29
Correspondence Address: Syeda Azra Batool, Department of Economics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan; e-mail: azrabatool@bzu.edu.pk
Abstract
Women make almost half of the population of Pakistan. Unfortunately, the majority of this huge reservoir does not share the development process. The reason lies behind the fact that socio-cultural set-up of Pakistan confines women to homes, and makes them psychologically less empowered. The present study focused on investigating the economic and psycho-social determinants of psychological empowerment among women in Pakistan. A sample of 500 women of reproductive age ranged between (21-49) years was selected from Lahore city. The demographic data sheet, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS: Schwarzer & Schulz, 2003), Internal Locus of Control: a sub-scale of Locus of Control Scale (Reid & Ware, 1974) and Global Psychological Empowerment Scale for Women (GPESW: Batool, 2017) were used to measure the study variables. Stepwise regression was run to measure the relative strength of variables in the prediction of psychological empowerment in women. The results supported our hypothesized model and it was revealed that self-esteem, social support, husband’s support, internal locus of control, paid job, dowry and education significantly predicted Psychological Empowerment in women, and 24 percent variance was accounted for by these variables. Limitations and implications of the study have been discussed
Keywords: Psychological empowerment, self-esteem, husband’s support, social support, internal locus of control, Paid job.
