Women empowerment and her right to choose and use contraceptives – achieving social justice - Evidence from India

Background: It has been documented that women empowerment translates in to appropriate use of available health care services for oneself and her family – especially for issues related to fertility and willingness to choose and use contraceptives. This study aims to study link between women's empowerment and her likelihood of using contraceptive services across different states in India.

Methods: Data from National Family Health Survey (2005-2006) is used for this research. Whether the women do not use modern contraceptives, uses female methods of contraception, or uses male-female combined methods of contraceptives are different categories of the dependent variable. Different dimensions measuring women's empowerment such as her involvement in decision making for health care, for economic issues, freedom of movement, education, fertility preference and domestic violence serve as explanatory variables. Bi-variate and multivariate analyses – such as cross tabulation, multivariate regression and logit regression analysis have been deployed to understand the impact of women's empowerment on her ability to choice and use of contraceptives. Results: Initial results show diversity in levels of women's empowerment and choice and use of contraceptives across different states in India. Results also show associations between choice and use of contraceptive and dimensions of women's empowerment.

Implications: Results from this study will shed light on levels of women's empowerment and her willingness to choose and use contraceptive. In the long run results of this study will be helpful in planning and implementing programs that support women's empowerment and ensure social justice for this group of the population.