Empowerment as a Mediator between Education and Reproductive Health Care in Egypt: The Impact of Poverty and Residence

Abstract

Introduction: Since women's access to the required reproductive health care reduces maternal and foetal deaths and postpartum complications for both, this study examined the role of poverty and residence on the model where empowerment played a mediating role between education and women's access to reproductive health care. Methods: The study used the Multiple-Group Path Analysis based on the 2014 Egypt's Demographic Health Survey. Results: Women's Empowerment acts as a partial mediator between their education and receiving reproductive health care, while it acts as a full mediator between the husband's education and the woman's reception of that care. There are no significant differences among the categories of the residence and wealth models with regard to both the effect of education, of the woman and her husband, on empowerment and the effect of the latter on receiving health care. There is a significant difference among the categories of the wealth model regarding the effect of women's education on receiving health care, whereas this difference does not exist among the residence model categories. Conclusion: The effect of both women's education and empowerment on receiving reproductive health care is higher among the poor and the rural dwellers, while the effect of the husbands' education on empowerment is weak among these categories. Therefore, a new societal culture must be created through educational curricula, female illiteracy and dropping out of education stages must be reduced, and poverty must be mitigated through an integrated system targeted for small projects and supported by all facilities.

The Situation of Egyptian Women in Childbearing and Family Planning and Some Related Factors: A Perspective of Correspondence Analysis

“…This index was generated using 12 variables (to find out the variables through which the indicator was formed, refer to [25]). This index has been divided into four levels, where 1 indicates the lowest degree while 4 signals the highest degree.…”