IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/popdev/v50y2024is2p597-623.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting Women's Empowerment and Contraception

Author

Listed:
  • Shireen J. Jejeebhoy
  • Zeba Sathar

Abstract

This essay explores and reviews the literature from low‐ and middle‐income countries on the pathways of influence between women's empowerment and reproductive outcomes, specially focusing on contraception, and points to some outstanding gaps. We adopt a framework that assesses the influence of contextual factors, notably kinship structures, and marriage systems, on women's empowerment and agency and other transformational factors affecting women's agency and gender roles and wielding direct and indirect influences on empowerment and contraceptive outcomes. The review of around 80 studies highlights that even after other factors are adjusted, women's agency has a strong influence on contraceptive outcomes. Contraceptive use levels are likely influenced by community‐level factors above and beyond individual‐level factors. Transformational factors, especially exogenous factors such as education and family planning programs, have independent and direct effects on contraceptive outcomes, at times even weakening or canceling out the effects of women's agency. Comprehensive contraceptive transition theory must reserve a central place for women's empowerment through agency and gender roles, particularly the ability of women and girls to make independent and free contraceptive choices. Relatedly, progress in contraceptive transition should be assessed according to not only contraceptive prevalence but also women's ability to use their preferred choice of methods for achieving reproductive rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Shireen J. Jejeebhoy & Zeba Sathar, 2024. "Revisiting Women's Empowerment and Contraception," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S2), pages 597-623, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:50:y:2024:i:s2:p:597-623
    DOI: 10.1111/padr.12688
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12688
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/padr.12688?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:50:y:2024:i:s2:p:597-623. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0098-7921 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.