Comparison of Women's Satisfaction and Empowerment through an Asset-Based Approach in Formal and Informal Settlements (Case Study: Zafaraniyeh and Rezvanshahr Neighborhoods in Tabriz)

The uneven capital dis tribution among settlements seems to have contributed to disparities in social classes, empowerment, and satisfaction. Empowerment refers to the expansion of assets and abilities; despite the key role of women in Iranian families, their empowerment has been neglected in s tudies. This s tudy uses an asset-based approach based on the settlement types to measure and compare the level of women's satisfaction. This descriptive-correlational s tudy used a ques tionnaire and observation to collect data from 376 women living in Tabriz's Zafaraniyeh and Rezvanshahr neighborhoods with formal and informal settlement patterns, respectively. The collected data were compared using a t-tes t between settlements regarding research variables, and the effect size was inves tigated using correlation and regression tes ts. The findings indicate that women in formal settlements have more capital, empowerment, and satisfaction than those in informal settlements. There is a significant difference between the women of both settlements regarding the research variables. The capital dimensions play a crucial role in predicting women's satisfaction directly and indirectly through empowerment. In formal settlement, physical capital (ß=1.370) and social capital (ß=0.120) have the highes t and lowes t effects, respectively. In contras t, in informal settlements, social capital (ß=0.560) and economic capital (ß=0.136) show the highes t and lowes t effects, respectively. In conclusion, this s tudy highlights that women with greater access to capital experience more empowerment, which leads to greater satisfaction. Therefore, benefiting more from the capital dimension result in higher levels of empowerment and satisfaction for women.