Women's empowerment is ―a process whereby women become able to organize themselves to increase their own self-reliance, to assert their independent right to make choices and to control resources which will assist in challenging and eliminating their own subordination" (Keller and Mbwewe, 1991).Empowering women is one of the most crucial concerns of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. One of the national priorities and goals of the Human Resource Development Strategic Plan outlined by the Social Sector of the Ministry of Economic Development in Sultanate of Oman includes the vision of the development of women, upgrading the status of women and facilitating their integration into the total social development. The key objective of this research article is to measure the women empowerment in Oman by identifying the household decision making ability of women, to assess the economic decision making capability of women and evaluate the freedom of mobility of women for giving recommendation and suggestions to boost women empowerment in Oman. We have taken a sample of 150 women in Sohar region, Sultanate of Oman, with a structured questionnaire. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) is the main tool for data analysis and we used regression model and frequency tables. For quantitative analysis, we have taken by selecting five main variables as independent variables and total women empowerment as dependent variable. We have done a hypothesis testing by taking five hypotheses out of that four have accepted and one rejected. In qualitative analysis we have framed total women empowerment index that shows that women in Sohar are good decision makers. Another finding is that women in Oman are better in household decision making and economic decision making than social empowerment. We have also taken perception analysis via addressed different issues in legal and political side. The result shows that majority of women in Sohar region are aware about their rights and duties. Finally the study has given certain recommendations to further improve the empowerment of women in Sohar region.

Women Empowerment in Oman: A study based on Women Empowerment Index

Introduction: This study aims to assess the potential for the lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM) and passive LAM among women with children below six months of age, and to examine its association with women empowerment in household decisions. Methods: Data from the Egypt Demographic Health Survey 2000 was downloaded from the Demographic and Health Surveys website. A sub-sample of women fulfilling all four criteria were selected: (I) women whose last birth of children was less than three years ago; (2) currently married; (3) not sterilised; and (4) currently breastfeeding their children. Accordingly, only 3,447 women entered into the statistical analysis, of whom 1,141 had children below six months of age. Results: Passive LAM users constituted 82 percent of the women who met LAM criteria, 57.1 percent of exclusive breastfeeding mothers, and 32.9 percent of all nursing mothers of children below six months of age. 11.8 percent of women who met the LAM criteria were under double coverage of family planning methods. In the logistic regression model where all variables were adjusted, women empowerment in household decisions, significantly and independently, inversely predicted passive LAM along with increase in child age (Odds-ratio [OR] of 0.86 and 0.43, respectively). Women with higher birth order children were more likely to use passive LAM (OR 1.11). Conclusion: Women of low empowerment index in household decisions were more likely to use passive LAM. Passive LAM users could be subjected to discontinuation or double coverage of contraceptives.

Lactational amenorrhoea method for family planning and women empowerment in Egypt.

We investigated the practice of some of health-compromising behaviours among Omani adolescents and their correlates in a nationally representative secondary school-based sample of 1670 boys and 1675 girls. The mean age of the sample was 17.13 (SD 1.35) years. Through a self- administrated questionnaire the adolescents were asked about 6 risky behaviours: current smoking, ever use of alcohol, succumbing to peer pressure to take illicit drugs, driving without a licence, speeding while driving and being involved in a physical fight in the month prior to the survey. Demographic and psychosocial variables related to their risk behaviours were also assessed. The results indicated that 4.6 % were current smokers, 4.3% had drunk alcohol and 4.6% had taken drugs. About 20% had been involved in a physical fight in the month prior to the survey, 33.4% drove without a licence and 33.9% liked to speed. Male sex and low self-esteem were the strongest predictors of risky behaviour.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Secondary-School Pupils in Oman: I. Health-Compromising Behaviours

Synopsis We assessed women's attitudes towards equitable gender norms in a total of 653 Muslim women in Bangladesh. We selected the participants from both rural and urban areas using a convenience sampling technique and carried out face-to-face interviews. We measured women's attitudes towards equitable gender norms using the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) scale which consisted of seven items. Results revealed that on average, women scored 15.97 (SD = 2.08) on the total scale score of 21 on their attitude towards equitable gender norms. Women's attitudes ranged from the most favorable (90.7%) with regard to “A man should know what his partner likes during sex” to the least favorable (39.7%) for “It is important to have a male friend that you can talk to about your problems”. Multi-variate linear regression analysis identified five explanatory variables, which together explained 30.9% of variance in the dependent variable. Significant variables include participants' age (B = − 0.027, p

An assessment of attitude towards equitable gender norms among Muslim women in Bangladesh

This project was supported by a grant from the former Supreme Council for Family Affairs in the State of Qatar.

Gender Roles in the Arab World: Development and Psychometric Properties of the Arab Adolescents Gender Roles Attitude Scale

This study investigated the attitudes of Omani adolescents towards gender roles and women's empowerment in taking household decisions, and the determinants of their positive attitudes. A national representative secondary school-based sample of 1670 boys and 1675 girls completed a self-administrated questionnaire with 2 indices: Adolescents' Attitudes Towards Gender Roles and Adolescents' Attitudes Towards Women's Empowerment. Other questions included demographic data, risk behaviour lifestyle, proxies to mental health and social environments expected to predict attitudes towards gender role. Eight variables predicted higher scores in both indices: sex, age, socioeconomic class, sleep problems, self- esteem, current smoking, history of indulging in violent behaviour and parental relations.

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Y Bint Ahmad Jaffer

Papers

Adolescents' attitudes toward gender roles and women's empowerment in Oman.