Dimensions of Women's Autonomy and Family Influence: A Statistical Study

Womens participation in decision making process and their autonomy are equally important components of women empowerment along with access to resources. The present study has tried to analyze the decision making (self & Jointly) w. r. t. Control over finance, Household decisions and Freedom of Movement on the given indicators for the working women in Mumbai (suburb) city. The study included information from 1387 selected working women from Joint and Nuclear families. It is found that, significant change in decision making on purchase personal things and spending husband income in Joint families but not w. r. t. decision on Investments. Autonomy is extended to women on Holding spiritual and social functions in house though their freedom to go out is limited. Difference in proportion of women taking self-decision on freedom is significantly more in Joint-families w. r. t. their career, family tour picnic, freedom to go out alone as well as with friends & colleagues, and support to parents. The study suggests that, Joint family system is good for the working women particular in the city like Mumbai. Hence, it can be concluded that, economic empowerment makes the women more concerned about their participation in decision making irrespective of the family type they live.