Objectives: This study examines the associations between women’s empowerment and contraceptive use in selected African countries. We test the hypothesis that, compared to women who are not powered, those who are empowered will be more likely to use contraceptives that are female controlled, as well as couple methods that require the awareness and support of their husbands.
Data: Data come from the latest round of Demographic and Health Surveys conducted within the last five years in Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Ghana, and Uganda. These surveys have similar questions on women’s empowerment, which facilitates cross-country comparisons. Women’s empowerment is measured along six dimensions: household economy, socio-cultural activities, health seeking behavior, fertility preferences, sexual activity negotiation, and attitudes towards domestic violence. Current use of contraceptives is categorized into: non-use, use of female-only methods, and use of couple methods.
Methods: Bivariate and multivariate multinomial regressions are employed. An overall score of empowerment as well as different dimensional indices of women’s empowerment are included in the analysis.
Findings: There is a strong association between the overall score of women’s empowerment and contraceptive use in all countries. When women’s and community’s characteristics are controlled for, in most countries (except Swaziland) several dimensions of women’s empowerment emerge as important to female method use, or couple method use, or both. These dimensions include household economic decision making, fertility preferences, and sexual activity negotiation. In Namibia, attitudes towards domestic violence are also important to the use of couple methods of contraception. The findings suggest different targeting strategies to improve women’s use of contraception, as well as men’s awareness and involvement in family planning via women’s empowerment.