The outlook of Women Empowerment: A Comparative Study on Rural and Urban Women in Rajshahi District of Bangladesh

The demographic distribution of Bangladesh implies around an equal male-female ratio. Bangladesh has been graduated from least developed to a developing country since 2018. It has been observed that the rural women are less benefited than the urban women if any development occurs in Bangladesh. The main objective of our study is to find out the comparative women empowerment scenario in urban and rural regions of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh. To analyze the women empowerment status, we use a unique well-structured questionnaire to collect information from the urban and rural women who are between (40-80) age group. We use both descriptive and econometric statistics. The multi-variable linear regression models have been used to describe social and economic endorsement of 200 women, one half is from rural area and other half was from urban area and the data set has been analyzed through two multiple regression models, the decision making on social perspective and purchasing power on economic factors. We get significant results for very few variables, such as decision making and governance, pocket money and purchasing capacity have both positive and significant relations in both rural and urban areas. On the other hand, freedom of movement, resource ownership and income contributions are only significant for villages. In our descriptive analysis, there is 5 % more women in village can take household expenditure decision than the women living in cities. We get 30 % women in rural areas having the freedom of movement facility whatever only 18 % urban women enjoy it. Finally, the paper suggests some policies which can attain the women empowerment for our national development.