International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue VIII, August 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
The Status of Married Women into the Process of Household Decision Making: A Study in Khulna City
Sabrina Mostafiz* and Hasan Jamil
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: This study aims to determine the women’s role in household decision making in relation to their gender status. This study also explores the links between women’s status and their participation in household decision making process. This study revealed that 64.2 percent women are the housewives who are giving labour in household for free and hardly recognized. The findings of the study explicated that 41.6 percent women’s title belongs to their father before their marriage while 61.7 percent women’s title belongs to their husband after their marriage and 45 percent women got married based on the decision taken by their parents. The study found that over 38 percent of the women provided dowry at the time of their marriage and about 48 percent of the women’s had to forcefully pay dowry. It was also found that half (50.8%) of the women faced forced sex with husband. This is the common scenario in our patriarchal society because the woman is not regarded here as a distinct entity. The patriarchal society regarded them as an entity who obeys their decision. In this study woman’s decision about their maternal health care followed by 1st place in the rank order by obtained the mean value 3.80. This study concluded that marriageable age, marriage length, education, economic self sufficiency along with gender awareness, traditional socio-cultural practices, exposure to mass media and access to information can enhance women’s status in household decision making. Through this, it is possible to achieve gender equality at all levels in the society of Bangladesh.
Key words: Women status, married women, household, decision-making, women’s participation.
I. INTRODUCTION
The lives of all women in patriarchal social settings like Bangladesh are constrained by the norms, beliefs, customs and values through which societies differentiate between women and men (Kabeer, 2000). Some external factors like ideological, cultural and economic reasons underlie the symmetries and asymmetries in intra-household resource allocation (Moser, 1993). Women play a crucial role in the economic welfare of the family. Women perform different tasks depending on their socio-economic structure, number of people in the family, the nature of professions they are involved in and many other factors (Reddy and Reddy, 1987). Decisions made in home management ranges in importance from major once in a lifetime. For example, choice of a marriage partner is indeed an important decision and not to be taken lightly, but it is only in fairy tales that they live happily ever after (Knoll, 1973). In the upper income groups, the type of home and the duties of women may vary