Women's Sexual Empowerment and Contraceptive Use in Ghana

Abstract

Pervasive gendered inequities and norms regarding the subordination of women give Ghanaian men disproportionately more power than women, particularly in relation to sex. We hypothesize that lack of sexual empowerment may pose an important barrier to reproductive health and adoption of family planning methods. Using the 2008 Ghana Demographic Health Survey, we examine the association between women's sexual empowerment and contraceptive use in Ghana among nonpregnant married and partnered women not desiring to conceive in the next three months. Increasing levels of sexual empowerment are found to be associated with use of contraceptives, even after adjusting for demographic predictors of contraceptive use. This association is moderated by wealth. Formal education, increasing wealth, and being in an unmarried partnership are associated with contraceptive use, whereas women who identify as being Muslim are less likely to use contraceptives than those who identify as being Christian. These findings suggest that to achieve universal access to reproductive health services, gendered disparities in sexual empowerment, particularly among economically disadvantaged women, need to be better addressed.

Contraceptive Uptake Among Married Women in Uganda: Does Empowerment Matter?

“…Right to contraceptives use is a component of reproductive health rights and cannot be ignored. Our study findings are in consonance with results of a study in Ghana where women's increasing levels of sexual empowerment were found to be associated with increased use of contraceptives (Crissman et al, 2012). The sexual rights are directly linked to contraceptive uptake and this could explain this strong association.…”

“…Among businesswomen in Kampala, a study established higher figures of contraceptive uptake than both the national average and the urban estimates at the time (Kwagala, 1996) and economic empowerment was associated with use of modern contraceptives (Kibira, 2009), while Crissman in Ghana found women's increasing levels of sexual empowerment to be associated with increased use of contraceptives (Crissman et al, 2012).…”

The effect of joint contraceptive decisions on the use of Injectables, Long-Acting and Permanent Methods (ILAPMs) among married female (15–49) contraceptive users in Zambia: a cross-sectional study

“…Based on these results, we speculate that economic empowerment of households in Zambia will reduce the economic expectations of parents from children. Wealth has previously been reported as a contributor to contraceptive use among women in developing countries, with wealthier women having more access to and utilisation of birth control measures [24,25]. Crissman [24] found that increasing wealth was one of the main factors associated with contraceptive use among non-pregnant married and partnered women who did not want to get pregnant in the next three months in Ghana.…”

Effects of Birth Control Empowerment Program for Married Immigrant Vietnamese Women in South Korea

“…However, preceding research shows that the mediation of empowerment significantly increases contraception practice rate [26], and that women with higher levels of empowerment have higher rates of contraception practices and birth control practices [29]. As such, sex-related empowerment is an important predictive factor for intentions and practice of contraception.…”