Women’s Empowerment and Decision-making Participation among Textile Handicraft Workers: Evidence from Jamalpur District, Bangladesh

Abstract

Aims: Women’s participation in decision-making is a central component of empowerment, yet evidence remains limited for informal and home-based textile handicraft work in rural Bangladesh. This study assesses women’s empowerment among female textile handicraft workers in Jamalpur District across three domains: economic decision-making, household decision-making, and physical mobility. Study Design: Cross-sectional quantitative survey. Place and Duration of Study: Four upazilas of Jamalpur District, Bangladesh (Jamalpur Sadar, Sarishabari, Melandaha, and Islampur). Data were collected through face-to-face interviews from January to February 2023. Methodology: Using primary survey data collected through face-to-face interviews with 120 female handicraft workers, we constructed a Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) and estimated regression models to identify the socio-economic determinants of domain-specific participation in economic decision-making, household decision-making, and physical mobility. Results: The overall WEI was 0.620, indicating moderate empowerment, with high economic decision-making (EDMI = 0.890), moderate household decision-making (HDMI = 0.652), and low physical mobility (PMI = 0.319). The regression results showed that income from handicraft work was positively and significantly associated with all three empowerment domains: EDMI (β = 0.035, p = 0.007), HDMI (β = 0.036, p = 0.004), and PMI (β = 0.054, p = 0.003). Age and education were also positively associated with economic decision-making, while marital status was positively associated with household decision-making but negatively associated with physical mobility. Key constraints included low wages, liquidity shortages, limited legal support, inadequate training, and work–family conflict. Conclusion: The results suggest that gains in economic and household empowerment have not translated into comparable improvements in physical mobility. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions that expand credit access, strengthen skills training, improve legal and institutional support, and enhance market integration to promote sustainable empowerment and broaden women’s participation in decision-making.