JPSIM Journal of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine J Pak Soc Intern Med 2709-8729 2710-0804 Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine 10.70302/jpsim.v5i1.2409 jpsim.v5i1.2409 Original Research The Relationship between the Women Empowerment and Use of Contraceptive Methods among Married Women of Reproductive Age(15-35+) in Punjab, Pakistan: A Cross Sectional Study Kausar Rukhsana rukhsankausar@gmail.com * Ashfaq Madeeha Rahim Yasir Mehmood Faisal Ali Rizwan Research Wing, Population Welfare Department, Punjab, Pakistan *Correspondence: Rukhsana Kausar (rukhsankausar@gmail.com) 28 02 2024 2024 5 1 398 403 23 10 2023 30 11 2023 Copyright © 2024 The Author(s) 2024 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Objective

To determine the association of women empowerment with the use of contraceptive methods among married women of reproductive age (15-35+) in Punjab, Pakistan.

 Methodology

The nature of the research study was cross-sectional and a quantitative approach was employed. The time of study was from December 2022 to March 2023. The target population was married women of reproductive age 15-35+ years in Punjab. Within Punjab, ten districts were selected. The sampling frame of this survey was updated through available frame by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Islamabad. The sample size of the study was 8640 households. The sample of households was drawn by employing two-stage cluster sampling. Probability proportionate to size was used to select the blocks from each stratum. The research selected the 20 households (SSUs) from one block (PSUs) based on actual listing using systematic sampling technique with random start. The descriptive, chi-square and binary logistic regression was applied.

 Results

By analyzing the data, it was found that women empowerment was largely associated with women’s contraception use. The women who had participation in household decision-making had greater use of contraception (54.2%) as compared to women with any ownership of assets (53.8%) and women with control over their income (52.7%). Odd ratios from binary regression also revealed the same pattern that women’s higher level of participation in household decision-making encourage them to use of contraception at greater level (O.R= 1.369) as compared to the women with any ownership of assets (O.R= 1.304) and women with control over their income (1.240%).

 Conclusion

The results of the study yield that women empowerment pave the ways for women to improve their reproductive health and also make independent taking the decisions related to their bodies. Without empowering women, the higher use of contraceptive methods is a distant dream. Therefore, it is a high time to take contingent measures to empower the women in every field of life.

 Keywords : Women Empowerment Contraceptive Use Reproductive Health. References Abbas, S., Isaac, N., Zia, M., Zakar, R., & Fischer, F. (2021). Determinants of women’s empowerment in Pakistan: evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys, 2012–13 and 2017–18. BMC Public Health, 21(1). Al Riyami A, Afifi M, Mabry RM. Women's autonomy, education and employment in Oman and their influence on contraceptive use. Reproductive Health Matters. 2004;12(23):144-54. Crissman HP, Adanu RM, Harlow SD. Women's sexual empowerment and contraceptive use in Ghana. Studies in Family Planning. 2012;43(3):201-12. Blanc AK. The effect of power in sexual relationships on sexual and reproductive health: an examination of the evidence. Studies in Family Planning. 2001;32(3):189-213. Harvey SM, Bird ST, De Rosa CJ, Montgomery SB, Rohrbach LA. Sexual decision making and safer sex behavior among young female injection drug users and female partners of IDUs. JSex Res. 2003;40(1):50-60. Efendi, F., Sebayang, S. K., Astutik, E., Reisenhofer, S., & McKenna, L. (2023). Women’s empowerment and contraceptive use: Recent evidence from ASEAN countries. PloS One, 18(6), e0287442. Jan M, Akhtar S. An analysis of decision-making power among married and unmarried women. Studies on Home and Community Science. 2008;2(1):43-50. Jaysawal, D. N., & Saha, D. S. (2023). Role of education in women empowerment. International Journal of Applied Research, 9(4), 08–13. Mason KO, Smith HL. Women’s empowerment and social context: Results from five Asian countries. Gender and Development Group, World Bank, Washington, DC. 2003;53(9). Govindasamy P, Malhotra A. Women's position and family planning in Egypt. Studies in Family Planning. 1996;27(6):328-40. Hashemi SM, Schuler SR, Riley AP. Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh. World Development. 1996;24(4):635-53. Nordqvist C. What is contraception? What is birth control. Medical News Today. 2009. OsayiOsemwenkha S. Gender issues in contraceptive use among educated women in Edo state, Nigeria. AfrHealth Sci. 2004;4(1):40-9. Saleem S, Bobak M. Women's autonomy, education and contraception use in Pakistan: a national study. Reproductive Health. 2005;2(1):1-8. Schuler SR, Hashemi SM. Credit programs, women's empowerment, and contraceptive use in rural Bangladesh. Studies in Family Planning. 199425(2):65-76. Shafiq, M. O., Hingoro, A. A., & Baqar, S. (2023). Examining women empowerment through media and knowledge sharing among women of Sindh, Pakistan. Journal of Positive School Psychology , 7(6), 180–191.