Women’s Empowerment, Region of Residence, and Contraception among Women in India

Despite actions taken by the Indian government to improve national, regional, and village-level sexual and reproductive health, 49 million women still have unmet contraceptive needs. Yet, when granted access, women disproportionately elect for irreversible methods such that India has the highest female sterilization rate in the world. Building on these insights, the present study examines associations between women’s empowerment (e.g., cooking, shopping, and family-planning autonomy), region (e.g., Hills, North, and East), and use of contraception (i.e., any and type). Data for this study comes from ever-married, reproductive aged women in the 2005 and 2012 waves of the India Human Development Survey (n=38,634). Results from multilevel logistic models showed that higher levels of women’s empowerment are associated with greater probability of using contraception, and after disaggregation, relying on female sterilization. Furthermore, region of residence modifies associations such that women residing in the North Central and North are typically less likely to utilize contraception. Across empowerment levels, residents of the West and South consistently have higher levels of contraceptive use. This study highlights the importance of women’s empowerment for contraception as well as regional differences in reproductive healthcare access, views of contraception, and long-term impacts of fertility planning programs.

Population Review

Volume 63, Number 1, 2024

Type: Article, pp. 24-54

Women’s Empowerment, Region of Residence, and Contraception among Women in India

Authors: Megha Rana & Ryan Talbert *

* Authors are listed alphabetically and authorship is equal.

Authors affiliations: Ryan D. Talbert is an Assistant Professor of Sociology; faculty affiliate of the Africana Studies Institute and the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy at the University of Connecticut; and leads the Health Equity Lab. Megha Rana is currently a Pre-PA student majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology and minoring in Sociology at the University of Connecticut. Her work includes examination of the role of region and women’s empowerment for contraception use among Indian women.

Corresponding author/address: Ryan Talbert [email protected]

Abstract

Despite actions taken by the Indian government to improve national, regional, and village-level sexual and reproductive health, 49 million women still have unmet contraceptive needs. Yet, when granted access, women disproportionately elect for irreversible methods such that India has the highest female sterilization rate in the world. Building on these insights, the present study examines associations between women’s empowerment (e.g., cooking, shopping, and family-planning autonomy), region (e.g., Hills, North, and East), and use of contraception (i.e., any and type). Data for this study comes from ever-married, reproductive aged women in the 2005 and 2012 waves of the India Human Development Survey (n=38,634). Results from multilevel logistic models showed that higher levels of women’s empowerment are associated with greater probability of using contraception, and after disaggregation, relying on female sterilization. Furthermore, region of residence modifies associations such that women residing in the North Central and North are typically less likely to utilize contraception. Across empowerment levels, residents of the West and South consistently have higher levels of contraceptive use. This study highlights the importance of women’s empowerment for contraception as well as regional differences in reproductive healthcare access, views of contraception, and long-term impacts of fertility planning programs.

Keywords

India, contraception, women’s empowerment

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