WOMEN EMPOWERMENT & FERTILITY BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Objective: To find out the relationship, if any, between women
empowerment and their fertility behaviour. Design: A cross sectional descriptive study. Place & duration of study:
The study was conducted in selected area of Bahawalpur City. The data was collected from March to June 2003.
Subjects & methods: A total number of 872 households were selected by systematic random selection from upper,
middle and lower class. Data was collected from eligible respondent (currently married women of reproductive age
group 15-49 year having at least one child of 3 years age) through a pre-designed questionnaire. Independent variable
empowerment of women was calculated by giving score to education, occupation and autonomy at micro level.
Dependent variables (fertility and use of contraception) were assessed for significance by applying chi square test.
Results: 41.9% high empowered women were in the opinion that birth of a male child did not provide security (p<.001).
A strong positive association between level of empowerment and contraception use (P<.001). There is inverse
relationship between women empowerment and number of children (<.001). Conclusion: There is strong inverse
relationship between women empowerment and fertility while positive association exist with contraceptive use.