Impact of Benazir Income Support Programmeon WomenEmpowermentin Urban Area of District Mardan

Abstract

The study has been carried out since 2025 in the district of Mardan. The primary objective was to investigate the impact of the Benazir Income Support Programmeon women's empowerment in the study area. Two urban localities, Charsda Chowkand Baghdada, were selected based on the greater number of cases. The total number of cases was 100; Charsada Chowkhad 40 beneficiaries, and Baghada had 60 beneficiaries. A census survey was carried out in the study area. Through interviews, the respondents' schedule data were collected. Descriptive statistics and a simple binary logistic model were used for data analysis. SPSS was run for data analysis. The result indicates that 92 per cent of the respondents were illiterate. About 76 per cent of respondents were female-headed households. Husbands alive were found by 85 per cent of respondents. A simple binary logistic model was run. All factors, namely age, family size, children's education expenditure, improvement in home ownership, health expenditures, and cloth expenditures, had coefficient values of 1.273, 0.724, 1.740, 2.181, 1.711, and 0.400, respectively, and odd ratio values of 3.571, 2.062, 5.700, 8.857, 5.533, and 4.056, respectively. All factors' p-values were .001, highly significant at the .05 confidence level. The factors and the empowerment relationship were found to be positively and significantly related. If one unit change occurred in the coefficient of a factor, then the odds ratio would change accordingly. Based on the problems, the study recommends providing funds on time according to their requirements; increasing the cash amount; arranging online training on business in the study area; and providing funds at their doorstep