Effect of Women Empowerment on Reproductive Health Care Practices among Northern and Southern Regions of India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: It is believed that empowered women can contribute to the health, productivity and benefit of the whole family and community and improved prospects for the next generation. The empowerment of women is a fundamental prerequisite for their health. With better reproductive health practices, women can go safely through pregnancy, child birth and fertility regulations. Objective: The main objective of this study is to investigate whether women empowerment in two study groups i.e., Northern states and Southern states of India is linked with their reproductive health practices. Data and Methodology: The data from the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) was used in the study. Women who were currently married or living with a partner were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between the reproductive health outcomes with the domains of women empowerment and other socio-economic and demographic variables. Results: Women‘s participation in household decision making having slightly higher percentage for a visit to family/ relatives in northern region under study, whereas the decision making in own health care as well as major and small household purchases were found higher in southern region. It can be surprisingly seen that women who justified refusing sexual intercourse to husband were significantly less likely to be assisted by a skilled person in delivery if overall Indian data is concerned, but no effect has been seen in northern and southern regions after the adjustment with socio-economic and demographic characteristics. The women who didn‘t support wife beating were more likely to use modern method of contraception in northern region.