Women Empowerment, Men’s Attitude, and Modern Contraceptive Use in Pakistan

Bhavita Kumari

Introduction: Contraception utilization is nearly 30% prevalence in Pakistan despite availability of services. It is imperative to understand the social determinants of contraceptive use in Pakistan. The study examines the association of women’s socio-economic empowerment and men’s attitude towards contraception with modern contraceptive use in Pakistan. Methods: Male and female data was merged from the Demographic Health Survey (2012-13) by their household (n=3182). Bivariate and multivariable logit regression were used to examine the odds ratio of women empowerment and men’s attitude on contraceptive use. Results: Women with greater empowerment were 17% more likely to utilize modern contraceptive methods and the difference was significant (aOR=XXX; %95 CI:1.09, 1.25). Conversely, women living the household of men who reported thinking that women who use contraception become promiscuous were 38% less likely to use modern contraceptive methods (aOR=xxx; %95 CI: 0.42, 0.90). Future interventions should target both men and women to improve contraceptive use.

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 Presented in Session 1. Fertility, Family Planning, Sexual Behavior, & Reproductive Health 1