Effect of women's empowerment and socio-economic status on choice and use of family planning methods among Southeast Asian countries

The determinants of family planning use have been well established in different contexts. However, less is known about the associations between method choice and women's empowerment in general. This study proposes to examine different aspects of women's empowerment and their individual and collective influence on current family planning methods choice among Southeast Asian countries. In the present research, we measure women's empowerment in terms of their role in the household economy and social-cultural activities; health seeking behavior; fertility preference; inter-personal sexual negotiation with their spouse, and attitudes towards domestic violence. Measuring empowerment of women in these varied areas will help capture the effect of each of these measures on the choice of family planning method a couple decides to use.

Demographic and Health Surveys data is used to test a hypothesis that less empowered women tend not to practice family planning methods, and when they do so, are more likely to use permanent methods or methods that do not require men's awareness and involvement. Principal component analysis will be used to construct composite indices for each of the measures of women's empowerment. An Ordinal Multi-variable Sample-Selection Model will be employed to model this two-stage contraceptive use behavior. Preliminary results show strong association between women's empowerment and choice of family planning measure. The resulting analyses will clarify the linkages between women's empowerment and family planning practice among Southeast Asian countries, and provide policy makers and development partners with evidence that will improve the supply chain for family planning in the region.