Far East Journal of Psychology and Business Vol.

2 No 2, February 2011

Women Empowerment in Oman: A study based on Women Empowerment

Index

Dr.Thresiamma Varghese,
Faculty of business, Sohar University,
P.O.Box.44 Postal Code-311 Sultanate of Oman
E-mail: jestynov14@gmail.com, tvarghese@soharuni.edu.om

ABSTRACT

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.

Keywords: Women empowerment, Economic development, Human development, Women

empowerment Indices, Gender issues.

Paper Type: Research Paper

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INTRODUCTION

United Nations and its agencies have encouraged the world community to discourage the gender
stereotypes and to strengthen the status of women within the family and in society as whole. The
economic and social changes which took place in the sultanate of Oman during the past years
had a great impact on the achievements of empowering women in Oman which is one of the
most crucial concerns of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. Many
studies shows that when women do well, the economy does well and many studies recommend
that countries should make participation and involvement of women in all spheres of life.

One of the national priorities and goals of the Human Resource Development Strategic Plan
outlined by the Ministry of Economic Development, 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. More recently in a 3-day symposium held in October 2009, in
Sohar, Oman, his Majesty Sultan Qaboos emphasized the need to support women partnership in
nation building through their empowerment.

Hashemi and Schuler (1993) defined the empowerment of women through the use of six spheres:
1) sense of self and a vision of the future, including resisting negative behaviors of the husband;
2) mobility and visibility, including how women are treated when they are traveling; 3)
economic security, including cash income, new skills and knowledge; 4) status and decision-
making power within the household, including making purchases on their own; 5) ability to
interact effectively in the public sphere, such as joining credit programs, and 6) participation in
non-family groups, such as credit programs and solidarity movements.

Traditionally, an Omani woman derives her status from her family and her primary role is to
maintain her family as a social institution and economic entity. As per the cultural and religious
environment, disparities exist between men and women in education, health, employment and
income opportunities, and control over assets, personal security and participation in the political
process in Oman (Ministry of Social Development, 2004). However, Oman government pays
continuous attention to ensuring that development is not limited to economic and material
aspects, but also embraces the social and human aspects of development. At the 2005 world
summit, governments of all nations agreed that ―progress for women is progress for all‖. Since
then a new era started in Oman also mainly because of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said‘s
great aspirations towards the process of Renaissance in Oman. His Majesty ensured that
development process of the nation should start through its human resources. While
nationalization has been an important cornerstone of development in Oman women have also
been encouraged to work shoulder to shoulder with their male counter parts. While going
through drastic changes in the developmental strategies, Sultanate of Oman recognizes the fact
that Omani women should be more powerful in order to have a better future in all spheres of the
country.

Research Problem

Empowerment of women is one of the most important priorities of the nation(His majesty sultan
Qaboos Speeches-2009).The data published by the Ministry of Social Development, Oman,

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Far East Journal of Psychology and Business Vol. 2 No 2, February 2011

highlights the changes which have been taking place in the participation of women in education,
training, employment, social participation, health, like that for the past 10 years. However,
Secondary Data shows that Omani women are slow in improving their capabilities when we
compare their capabilities and participation in the society with certain Arab countries. This
shows Omani women are still hesitated to undertake challenges in their life and get empowered.
So Measure the extent of empowerment, the Omani women achieved so far through the
opportunities available to them will be an important milestone in the process of empowerment.

The relevant Questions of the study

1) Do women in Oman participate in taking decisions in home?

2) Do women in Oman take economic decisions in their life?
3) Do women in Oman have freedom of mobility?
4) How to improve the empowerment of women in Oman?

Research Objectives:

The main objective of the study is to measure women empowerment in Oman. In this study the
particular aspects or dimensions of women empowerment we take are Economic empowerment,
Household Empowerment and Social empowerment.

The specific objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To identify the household decision making ability of women in Oman.

2. To assess the economic decision making capability of women in Oman.
3. To evaluate the freedom of mobility of women in Oman.
4. To give recommendation and suggestions to boost women empowerment in Oman.

Variables of the study

In general, there are two types of variables; First the independent variable: is the variable that is
varied or manipulated by the researcher. The other type is dependent variable, which is the value,
or the ―output‖ of the function. There are many independent variables in this study that are
grouped according to the factors that affect women empowerment. A preliminary study was
made in this regard that helped us to extract some variables that affect women empowerment in
Oman. We are going to take study on women empowerment in mainly in two ways: Qualitative
study and Quantitative. The dependent variable in this aspect is women empowerment. While the
independent variables for Quantitative study are: Income, Education, Employment, Media
exposure and Acquisition of assets. However, several other variables also contribute to women
empowerment so we have also done a perceptional analysis study using the variable like
knowledge of legal rights, Political rights and land ownership.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

There are various attempts in the literature to develop a comprehensive understanding of

empowerment through breaking the process down into key components. The frameworks suggest
by various authors suggests that women‘s empowerment needs to occur along the following
dimensions: economic, socio-cultural, familial/interpersonal, legal, political, and psychological.
However, these dimensions are very broad in scope, and within each dimension, there is a range
of sub-domains within which women may be empowered. So, for example, the ―socio-cultural‖
dimension covers a range of empowerment sub-domains, from marriage systems to norms
regarding women‘s physical mobility, to non-familial social support systems and networks
available to women. Moreover, in order to operationalize these dimensions, one should consider
indicators at various levels of social aggregation – the household and the community, as well as
regional, national, and even global levels. Acharya and Bennet (1983), studied on Nepal women
empowerment in different dimensions like role in farm management, domestic, and resource
allocation by taking the independent variables as market labour and unpaid family labour .They
came to a conclusion that, bringing women into the market economy positively affects their
influence in resource allocation and domestic decision- making. Ackerly, (1995), studied on
Bangladesh women empowerment, dimensions of empowerment were accounting knowledge,
ability to provide information on inputs cost, product field and profitability of the loan funded
activity through studying the factors, the loan characteristics and women‘s involvement in
market activities funded by loans. Their findings are women gain knowledge and empowerment
through market access, but it rarely occurs. Hashemi, (1996), studied on Bangladesh, the
indicators of empowerment are empowerment in household and community spheres by taking
the independent variable as microcredit participation and women contribution to household.
Their findings are microcredit empowers women by giving them greater economic value to their
life. Mathura and Mather, (1997), studied on women empowerment in Sri Lanka and the
indicators of empowerment were women‘s role in household decision making and control over
money matters. The independent variables are women and husband‘s education, participation in
waged work, family structure. The findings are, work for pay and education increase decision
making input in financial, but not in the social and organizational matters in the household.
Manson, (1998), studied on probability samples of urban households in Pakistan, India,
Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, regarding women empowerment. The dimensions of
women empowerment they took are women‘s role in household expenditure and decision making
.The study have taken independent variables as social context in terms of gender and family
systems, women‘s land assets, participation in waged work and wife‘s rank relative to husband.
They found out that social context has a direct and indirect effects on women‘s economic power.
Jejeebhoy, (2000), have made a study on India in three dimensions like, role of economic
decision making, role of child related decision making and the freedom from threat. The
independent variables used were, religion, education, participation in waged work, dowry size,
marriage endogamy, spouse age difference and household economic status. He found out that
some dimensions of empowerment are more closely related than others. Frankenberg and
Thomas, (2001), studied on women empowerment in Indonesia, the indicators of empowerment
were the women role in household decision –making, Control over cash, spending and time use.
They have taken independent variables as relative status of husbands and wife‘s at marriage, e.g.,
education, age, social status of family of origin. They found out that status influence financial
arrangements and decision making power. Mayoux (2001), studied on women empowerment in

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Cameroon. The dimensions of the study were control over income and development of collective
social and economic activities .The independent variables were microcredit participation and
social capital, i.e., kinship, neighborhood and market networks. They found out that use of
existing forms of social capital to channel microcredit limits benefit to women, especially the
poorest women. Sridevi (2005) studied in post graduate women teachers (PGT) in Chennai, India
.The study carries out the variables that affected the level of the empowerment of women which
are family type, age, education dummy, time spend in household work, freedom of mobility,
spouse age differences, educational difference with spouse, number of children, control over
personal salary and supporting natal home .The study aims to obtain a scientific measure of
women empowerment in Chennai. She found out that as the age is higher the chance of
empowerment is reduced and when the husbands are equally educated then the empowerment is
increased. She recommends that the women should change their self perception more than being
economically independent. Also, the society should understand the capabilities and the
contribution of the women in the development process. Towfiqua et al., (2007) studied on
Bangladeshi women in three dimensions of domestic empowerment like role of economic
decision –making power, role of household decision making power and physical freedom of
movement .The study aims to construct the women empowerment index and defines the relation
between the empowerment and social aspects like age, age at marriage and age difference
between spouses…etc. The study found that urban women are more empowered than rural
women and older women have more independence and empowerment than younger women
because of their life experiences. The study found out an increase in the awareness about women
rights and fundamental needs.

There is a lack of many studies in the Arab region that deal with issues related to women such as
empowerment and human resources. A few studies that have been done so far includes a study
by Solh (1999) on ―Feasibility and Operationalization of Micro credit Finance facilities,
Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Considerations‖, which draws a comparison between
Tunisia and Lebanon with regard to access of women to micro credit a way towards
empowerment. There are also studies on job, gender and small enterprises in Africa and Asia that
compare some countries such as Tunisia to countries in Africa and Asia. One such paper is on
the series on ―Women‘s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender in Enterprises‖. This
research aimed to give a general overview of the situation of women in small business and small
entrepreneurs against a back drop of the four countries‘ economic conditions and the gender
based socio-cultural, legal and political systems in place in these counties. The research
examined a number of centers and organizations that are involved in income generation and
enterprise promotion, and found out that a significantly larger proportion of women than men
entrepreneurs were under 30 years of age. Data shows that women entrepreneurs have a slightly
higher level of education than men entrepreneurs. The World Bank has produced several papers
on Gender; one of it is examining the impact of international trade. A study of 35 developing
countries found a strong positive correlation between the female intensity of manufacturing (the
number of female workers per 100 male workers) and export growth.

A recent survey has done on Women in the Middle East Workplace (2008), female professionals
from UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco,
Algeria and Tunisia were participated in this survey. The survey measured women‘s perceptions,
attitudes, experiences and satisfaction of various elements of their role in the work place,

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especially in regards to their treatment and salaries received compared to their male counterparts.
Khori, I et al (2006) studied about ‗Woman Empowerment in the Syrian Arab Republic Status
and Prospects‘‘. This paper aimed to examine the concept of empowerment of women and know
the procedures that help to complete the process of empowerment of Syrian Women. The study
used descriptive statistical analysis and the analysis of data is based on the collection of
information through a questionnaire from a random sample of 1000 from Latakia city and this
data got analyzed by SPSS program.

In the Sultanate of Oman a study was done by AI-Lamky (2004) on ―Perceptions of Working
Omani Women‖. This study investigated the issues faced by working women in Oman. The aim
was to capture the experience of women at work, understand their motives, their aspirations,
their perceptions regarding issues of challenge and equal opportunities at work. The study also
highlighted the barriers that stand in the way of women‘s career and professional integration and
proposed methods of dealing with such constraints. The ultimate aim of the study was to
facilitate the incorporation of a growing and capable minority in the productive sectors of the
economy. This study points out that understanding the issues is the first step in crafting programs
and policies that will ensure equality, effective utilization of the limited human talent available
and in creating a more productive, committed and satisfied workforce irrespective of gender
differences. Al. Lamky (2007) studied about "the feminizing leadership in Arab societies the
perspectives of Omani female leaders" .The aim of this study is to shed light on the phases of
women‘s empowerment in Oman, and attempts to capture their traits, experiences and challenges
as women leaders in conservative male dominated work environments. There are some factors
affect women in the prevailing social values and society. She has taken interviews with ten
Omani Women who has already achieved extraordinary levels of career success. The finding of
this study is that the leading policy making positions in the Arab Gulf State of Oman marks a
significant departure from the traditionally exclusive male dominated decision-making arena,
and ushers an end to an era of exclusive patriarchal dominance in leadership positions. Jaffer ,Y
and Afifi, M (2005) studied about ‗‘Adolescents‘ attitudes toward gender roles and women‘s
empowerment in Oman‘‘. Their paper aimed to investigate the attitudes of Omani adolescents
towards gender roles in taking household decisions and women‘s empowerment .They were used
a random sample from secondary school adolescents in Oman( 1670 boys and 1675 girls) with a
self- administrated questionnaire with two parts: Adolescents attitudes towards gender role and
Adolescent‘s attitudes women‘s empowerment. The study found out that eight variables
predicted higher scores in both sections: sex, age, socioeconomic class, sleep problem, self
esteem, current smoking, history of violent behavior and parental relation. Omani women
workshop (2009) studied about ‗women and volunteer work‘. This paper aimed to identify the
stages of the evolution of women‘s voluntary work in the Oman, to highlight the role of Omani
women in the development of society through volunteer work and pinpoint the most important
challenges they are facing at work. Since, more the women participation in volunteer work refers
to the good empowerment of women in society, this paper recommended for an increase in the
number of women volunteers in Oman.

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METHODOLOGY

This research is qualitative in nature but quantitative methodology also has been chosen. This
section we discuss the data sources and statistical analysis which we are going to use. In this
study we used two types of data primary and secondary data.

First, primary data will be collected using survey questionnaires to be distributed to the women
in the Sohar region. The household survey is based on convenience sampling technique with a
structured questionnaire. Also, structured interview will be prepared to interview some selected
women in this region. The secondary data will be collected from the organizations as well as
publications such as journals, newspapers, magazines, books, Internet, and from other studies
taken up by government or other independent organizations.

We have also taken five hypotheses for testing in order to know the relation between
independent variables and dependent variable. For measuring the women empowerment firstly
we found out the three dimension index and secondly we framed the women empowerment index
(WEI) in accordance with the construction method of Human development indices by United
Development Programmes (Human Development Report, UNDP, 2005).We also used the
descriptive statistics and inferential statistics in our study.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSION

As mentioned earlier, the distributed questionnaires were 150, it targeted on the women of Sohar
region, Sultanate of Oman. The reliability of the questionnaire suggests that alpha is .8065 which
reflects that information is reliable .In our research we consider many variables that can or could
make an impact on the women empowerment generally. The main variables we considered are:
income, education, and work status, acquisition of assets and media exposure.

It shows (Appendix Table.1) that most of the respondents are at the age group of 25-35 which
represent 77.3 percent of the total and majority of respondents were married which represent
about 99.3 percent of the total respondents. It shows the considerable numbers of respondents are
matured enough to take their own decisions. The majority of the respondent and their husband
are in the same age group (40.7 percent) or one or two years elder than the respondent (38.7
percent). From the sample we can see that 56 percent of the respondents have an independent
bank account. It shows that about 63.4 percent of the respondents reacted ‗Yes‘ to the question
that their husband shares household work and 36.7 percent of respondent said ‗No‘ to the above
question.

The table (Appendix .Table.1) shows that almost 43 percent of the respondents are in the income
brackets of Omani Riyal (OR) 500 and more per month and 25 percent of the respondent are in
OR 300-500 range 13 percent of the total respondents had fall on the very low income brackets.
The table shows that women‘s educational qualification is good with 63.3 percent of the total
respondents are having diploma or degree qualification while it is really a good sign that very
few only have less education (28 percent). A very small percentage of respondents are not having
any formal schooling. Previously ,in Oman number of women get education was very less but
from the data we can understand that the trend is changed and most of our respondents have high

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qualifications because education is consider as a right for women in Oman. Then, distribution of
respondents‘ work status, the table shows that most of the respondents are (67 percent ) are
employed, and only 22.7 percent are unemployed 3.3 percent of the respondents are students
while 7 percent are having own business.

Furthermore, as we know the women have the right to own assets in Oman, we are focused on
own land and houses as an assets in our study. The table (Appendix.Table.1) show that 60.7
percent of the respondents are having own house and 39.3 percent of them are not having own
houses. On the same time 60 percent of women have own land and 40 percent of them are not
having own land. The new Omani laws allow the women to own land from the government."
(Articles (1/B), (2), (3) issued by Royal Decree .No (81/84), Women Rights, Ministry of social
Affairs,2009). Also, the media exposure is a good signal that can show people‘s proximity
towards the societal happenings. The table shows that only 25 percent of the respondents are
having exposure to media and 74.7 percent of them were not exposed to the same. This result
shows that majority of women in Oman are not that interested in media and are not very keen in
participating in local and international events.

In this study we have tried to understand women empowerment in three ways; by the
construction of women empowerment index, hypothesis testing and perceptional analysis.

Analysis of Women Empowerment (Construction of Women Empowerment Index)

Women‘s empowerment is multidimensional and it is very difficult to measure. It comprises the

entire complex of interactions, roles, rights and statuses that surround being male versus being
female in a given society or culture (Mason, 1997). However, in our study we have tried to
measure women‘s empowerment in the domestic sphere by making women empowerment index
using the dimensions in accordance with Mason and Smith (2003). The particular aspects or
dimensions of empowerment we take are: a).women‘s economic decision-making power
(Economic Empowerment), b) their household decision-making power (Household
Empowerment),c). their physical freedom of movement (Social Empowerment)

The index of each dimension was constructed where minimum and maximum values were
chosen for each underlying indicator. Performance in each indicator is expressed as the minimum
and maximum value between 0 and 1 in accordance with the construction method of the Human
Development Index (UNDP, 2005) .The Women Empowerment Index (WEI) is then computed
in a simple average of these three indices according to the formula below: WEI = 1/3(economic
decision making index) + 1/3 (Household decision making index) + 1/3 (Freedom of Movement
index).

Where, (Xij), Min (Xij), Max (Xij) and IVij are, respectively, the actual value, minimum value,
maximum value for the dimension index.

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As per the United Nations Development programme (UNDP, HDI, 2005) of framing Human
development indices, the value of index 0 is deprived of development and value 1 is showing the
full development, value between 0 to .5 having minimum level of development, .6 to .7 is
medium level of development &.8 and more have high development. We have taken the same
method of differentiating the human trait ―empowerment‖ in an index form. The study have
framed the Household Empowerment, Social Empowerment and Economic Empowerment and
using that total empowerment index also. we can see in the Figure 1, that most of the
respondents have high empowerment in final say on their health care and decision on
employing servants in home 80.7percent and 85.3percent respectively .The household
empowerment index we got as 0.794, which is high in accordance with Human development
report 2005.The Figure 2, shows that in social aspect some respondent are not empowered
because cultural factors also have some impact on social empowerment .Empowerment index
0.628 is medium in accordance with the Human Development Report (HDR, 2005).

The Figure 3, shows that in the economic empowerment sphere most of the respondents are
empowered nicely and the index for their empowerment is 0.753. We have framed the total
empowerment index, from all the three empowerment indices. We got it as 0.725 .It shows that
women in Sohar are empowered and their empowerment index indicates a medium level of
empowerment. If we make a comparison between the dimensional empowerment indices with
total empowerment index, we can find that household empowerment is high 0.794, for the
women in Sohar while economic empowerment is less than that with an index value of 0.753.
The social empowerment shows as 0.628. The total empowerment index is affected by the
performance of these three indices. The total empowerment index is 0.725, because of less social
empowerment index, otherwise it would be more.

Analysis of Women Empowerment (Hypothesis testing)

This section assesses the available data with respect to the predetermined five hypotheses.
Hypotheses No.1:H0: There is no significant relation between income level and total women
empowerment, Hypotheses No.2:H0: There is no significant relation between women‘s
educational qualification and total women empowerment, Hypotheses No.3:H0: There is no
significant relation between women‘s work Status and total women empowerment. Hypotheses
No.4: H0: There is no significant relation between acquisition of assets and total women
empowerment. Hypotheses No.5:H0: There is no significant relation between media exposure
and total women empowerment. This analysis will help the researchers to discover impacts of
independent variables on the dependent variable (Total Women Empowerment). Accordingly the
result will be discussed against existing literature. The table 2 (Appendix) will gives the simple
linear regression results. The table 2 (Appendix) shows the R Square = .105 means that only 10%
of the variation in Y (depended variable, total women empowerment) is explained by X
(independent variable). Also, ANOVA shows that P value is .000 and the level of significant is
0.05, P< 0.05. So, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. There
is a significant relation between income and women empowerment. β= 0.325, P < 0.05, where
there is a positive impact on income and women empowerment. The table, 2(Appendix) show
that, the R Square= .430 means 43% of the variation in Y (total women empowerment) is
explaining by X (Educations). Also, ANOVA shows, P value is .000 and the level of significant
is 0.05 P<0.05. So, there is significant relation between education and women empowerment.

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The null hypothesis is rejected and alternative hypothesis is accepted. Also, β= 0.515, P < 0.05,
where is a positive impact on education and women empowerment. The table 2(Appendix)
shows that the R Square = .515 means that 51.5% of the variation in Y (total women
empowerment) is explaining by X (work status). Also, ANOVA shows P value is .007 and the
level of significant 0.05, P<0.05, so the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis
is accepted. There is a significant relation between employment and women empowerment. Also,
β = 0.718, P < 0.05, where there is a positive impact on work status and women empowerment.

The table 2, (Appendix) show that the R Square = .384 means that 38% of the variation in Y
(total women empowerment) is explaining by X (acquisition of assets). It mean the acquisition of
assets have significant relation on the women empowerment. Also, ANOVA shows P value is
.000 and the level of significant is 0.05, P < 0.05. So the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternative hypothesis is accepted. There is a significant relation between acquisition of assets
and women empowerment. β = .620, P < 0.05, where there is a positive impact on acquisition of
assets and women empowerment. The table 2, (Appendix) shows that R Square = .061 means
that less of the variation in Y is explaining by X. Furthermore, ANOVA shows P value is .06 and
the level of significant is 0.05, P > 0.05. So, the null hypothesis is accepted and alternative
hypothesis is rejected. There is no significant relation between media exposure and women
empowerment. The β = - .247, P >0.05, where there is a negative impact on media exposure and
women empowerment. So out of the five hypotheses, four hypotheses are accepted and one is
rejected.

Analysis of Women Empowerment (Women’s Perception on their empowerment)

In this section we have taken Women‘s awareness about their legal and political rights in order to
know the women‘s perception on their empowerment. Every person has rights and duties;
Knowing these rights and duties and exercising them is an important responsibility of an
individual to achieve the development and well-being of the community. The Ministry of Social
development Oman, has published a booklet‖ Omani Women‘s rights‘‘, 2009, it elaborates the
Royal decree showing the women‘s right in Oman. In our study we have only taken three issues
under the title the legal rights and one issue in political rights. The legal rights, the right to
protection against harm(Royal Decree, Article NO. 247,) assures that women have the right to
protection against harm, the second right, the right to set up associations, the State (Royal
Decree, Article NO. (4),) ensures that the women have the right to set up associations. The third,
legal right issue is the right to get own land. The Royal decree Article NO. (A/B), (2), (3) gives
the women equal rights with the men to own land. It is particularly clear in the speeches of His
Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, that in order to strengthen the role of women and keeping their
rights and honor them, putting them in various countries‘ important government portfolios is
very essential. It will give more development to Oman.

From the Figure 4, we can get information about the knowledge of women about the legal and
the political issues. In the first issue most of the women (49.3 percent) are strongly agree that
they know their right to protection against harm and 22 percent of women are neutral about their
right. While, few women are disagree about this right. The second issue, as the State ensured that
the women in Oman have the right to set up associations in Oman, the number of women are (29

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percent) agree that they have the right to set up associations but the few women 9 percent are
disagree on their right .

CONCLUSION

Woman‘s perceived interests linked to domesticity may adversely affect her empowerment
outcomes (Agarwal 1997; Kabeer 1999; Sen 2006). We found from the women empowerment
index that the women in Oman are empowered but still her interest towards domesticity affects
her empowerment otherwise women would have been more empowered. In fact ‗social power‘
plays an important role in generating/sustaining inequalities between men and women. Her
empowering intervention has to confront with the patriarchal ‗social power,‘ which plays an
important role in generating and sustaining gender inequalities. Also, the four hypotheses we
have tested have a positive significant relation between dependent variable and independent
variables but the fifth one is not showing any significance. The women‘s perceptions which also
we have taken show that the women in Oman have a more than average level of understanding
about their legal and political rights. This is an indication that women are very much aware of the
variables which can lead them towards empowerment. It is advised that future researchers who
are interested in women‘s empowerment in Oman can concentrate more on variables that have a
positive impact on women empowerment. The government and non-government agencies can
work on towards enhancing the women‘s traits and capabilities. Participation in seminars and
lecturers and encouragement for taking waged employment would help or strengthen the role of
women in decision making.

Based on research findings we came with certain recommendations for the agencies working for
women empowerment. Economic self-sufficiency is necessary, though it is not a sufficient
condition for empowerment of women. Public policies are extremely important to strengthen the
legal institutions that guarantee equal rights and opportunities to women. The recent policy
framework of international agencies such as the World Bank that emphasize institutional reforms
along with human development is a positive step in this direction (World Bank 2001). The policy
approach of ‗one size fits for all‘ is also not appropriate in the context of divergent socio-
economic conditions prevalent in different parts of the world.

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Figure 1: Household Empowerment

Household Empowerment

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Final say on Final say on Final say food Decision on Decision on
your health child health to be cooked supporting employing
care care each day natal home servants in
home

Empowered (%) Not Empowered (%)

Source –Primary survey

Figure 2: Social Empowerment

Social Empowerment

100
80
60
40
20
0
Final say on visit to Visit outside the Go to health centre
family and relatives village/town/city or hospital alone
alone

Empowered (%) Not Empowered (%)

Source –Primary survey

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Far East Journal of Psychology and Business Vol. 2 No 2, February 2011

Figure 3: Economic Empowerment

Economic Empowerment

100
80
60
40
20
0
Who decides how to Final say on large Decision on buying
spend money household purchases gifts for social
like furniture and functions
other items

Empowered(%) Not Empowered (%)

Source –Primary survey

Figure 4: Women’s Perception on their rights

Women‘s Perception on their rights

60

50

I know I have the right to

40
protection against harm (%)
I know I have the right to set up
30 associations (%)
I know I have the right to get own
20 land (%)
I know I have the right to involve in
10 country’s politics (%)

0
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree

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Far East Research Centre Hong Kong

Source –Primary survey

APPENDIX

Table 1 –The Respondent’s profile

Variables Frequency (%)

Respondents Age

 25 – 35 77.3
 35 – 45 13.3
 45 – 55 9.3

Educational Qualification

 None 2
 Primary 4
 Secondary 28.7
 Diploma / degree 65.3

Marital Status

 Single .7
 Married 99.3
 Divorced 0
 Widowed 0

Work Status

 Student 3.3
 Employed 67
 Unemployed 22.7
 Doing business 7

Income level per month

 Less than 100 13

 100 – 300 19.3
 300 – 500 24.7
 More than 500 43

Age of your husband compared to your age

 Younger than 8

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Far East Journal of Psychology and Business Vol. 2 No 2, February 2011

 Same age 40.7

 1-3 year older 38.7
 3-6 year older 9.3
 More older than your age 3.3

Husband shares household work

 Yes 63.4
 No 36.7

Acquisition of Assets

 House
 Yes 60.7
 No 39.3
 Land
 Yes 60
 No 40

Type of saving account

 Joint 20
 Independent 56
 No account 24

Media Exposure

 Yes 25
 No 74.7

Source –Primary survey

Table 2 - Regression Analysis

Variables R Square ANOVA (sig) Coefficient

β Sig
Income .105 .000 0.325 .000
Education .430 .000 0.656 .000
Employment .515 .007 0.718 .007
Acquisitions of assets .385 .000 0.620 .000
Media Exposure .061 .06 - 0.247 .06
Source –Primary survey

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