Malaysian Women’s Perceptions About Their Autonomy: The Psychological-Dimensional Model of Women's Empowerment

Abstract

Women in some societies are experiencing a psychosocial dysfunction that strongly restricts their involvement in activities that are their basic rights; they revealed a minimal level of personal autonomy and little influence on decision-making. Even so, little is known about women's empowerment in a Malaysian context. Hence, it is essential to examine the empowerment of women across three levels: personal, relational, and environmental. However, the focus of this paper is on personal level as that is more related to the psychological dimension of women's in Malaysia. Data was gathered through a survey among 116 respondents from different backgrounds. Standardized scales were used to measure the key concepts, the data was then analyzed using descriptive analyses alongside correlation coef?cient as well as mean ranking to test the data-model fit. The findings indicated that demographic characteristics are important components that significantly influence the psychological dimensions of women empowerment in Malaysia. Educational and income levels play an important role in women's self-confidence. In contrast, age, marital-status, and income-level play an important role in women's awareness of their rights. In addition, education level strengthens leadership skills, while age, education-level, employment sector, and monthly-income increase compatibility. In contrast, age, education level, and monthly income strengthen personal autonomy. The findings also revealed that amongst the five psychological magnitudes of empowerment, capability is identified as the core dimension that increases the level of women's empowerment followed by leadership ability, personal autonomy, confidence level, and lastly, Women’s awareness of their rights. The findings obtained from this research can help to propose an innovative psychological-dimensional model for women; it's, indeed, an avenue for researchers to understand women's psychological needs. Thus, this is crucial to provide suitable suggestions on planning the next course of action on how to close the psychological gender gap among Malaysia women in the future.