The Status of Married Women into the Process of Household Decision Making: A Study in Khulna City

This study aims to determine the women’s role in household decision making in relation to their gender status. This study also explores the links between women’s status and their participation in household decision making process. This study revealed that 64.2 percent women are the housewives who are giving labour in household for free and hardly recognized. The findings of the study explicated that 41.6 percent women’s title belongs to their father before their marriage while 61.7 percent women’s title belongs to their husband after their marriage and 45 percent women got married based on the decision taken by their parents. The study found that over 38 percent of the women provided dowry at the time of their marriage and about 48 percent of the women’s had to forcefully pay dowry. It was also found that half (50.8%) of the women faced forced sex with husband. This is the common scenario in our patriarchal society because the woman is not regarded here as a distinct entity. The patriarchal society regarded them as an entity who obeys their decision. In this study woman’s decision about their maternal health care followed by 1st place in the rank order by obtained the mean value 3.80. This study concluded that marriageable age, marriage length, education, economic self sufficiency along with gender awareness, traditional socio-cultural practices, exposure to mass media and access to information can enhance women’s status in household decision making. Through this, it is possible to achieve gender equality at all levels in the society of Bangladesh.