The Impact of Women’s Status on Human Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12724/ajss.59.4Keywords:
Development, Women's status, Child marriage, Fertility RateAbstract
This paper empirically analyses the effect of women’s status on human development. We define “status” in terms of economic opportunities, political empowerment, bodily autonomy and freedom of choice. Our study focuses on developing countries where patriarchal norms and gender discrimination play a major role in undermining women’s role in society. We find that, except political empowerment, all other dimensions have a significant impact on development. After examining the reasons behind the relationship between women’s status and human development, our study makes a compelling case for promoting gender-inclusive policy-making in order to attain national and global developmental goals.
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