Does Women’s Empowerment Influence Multidimensional Poverty? Empirical Insight from Rural Odisha of India

The prominent role played by women’s empowerment and multidimensional poverty reduction in the development process is justified including Goal-1 Goal-5 under 2030 agenda of UNDP’s Sustainable Development Goals. This study examines nexus between rural areas Jagatsinghpur district Odisha. Alkire-Foster method used to construct Women Empowerment Index Multidimensional Poverty Index. Education, health, economic, standard living dimensions MPI social, political, domestic for WEI. observed that more than two-thirds women are deprived asset ownership employment, half nutrition, access improved sanitation, clean energy cooking. results OLS model revealed positive impact with occupation, age, education reducing poverty. Based on findings, envisages appropriate policy intervention enhancing educational level generation self-employment opportunities empowering