Women's empowerment, extended families and male migration in Nepal: Insights from mixed methods analysis

Cheryl R Doss; Ruth Meinzen-Dick; Audrey Pereira; Rajendra Pradhan

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.01.003

Women's empowerment, extended families and male migration in Nepal: Insights from mixed methods analysis

J Rural Stud. 2022 Feb:90:13-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2022.01.003.

Authors

Cheryl R Doss¹, Ruth Meinzen-Dick², Audrey Pereira³, Rajendra Pradhan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Professor of International Development in the Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
² Senior Research Fellow in the Environment and Production Technology Division of International Food Policy Research Institute, USA.
³ PhD Student in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
⁴ Managing Director of the Nepā School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Abstract

•Combining qualitative and quantitative methods sheds new light on women's empowerment processes.•Upper caste Nepali women are disempowered by patriarchy; lower caste women by poverty and patriarchy.•Non-migrant husbands mediate the disempowering effects of living with in-laws.•Control over time, not just hours worked, is an important component of empowerment.

Keywords: Caste/Ethnicity; Gender; Joint families; Migration; Time use; Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index.