A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar, India.
Population Council, New Delhi, India.
J Biosoc Sci. 2020 Jul;52(4):523-533. doi: 10.1017/S0021932019000609. Epub 2019 Oct 10.
The positive effect of women's empowerment on the use of contraceptives is well established. However, the reverse effect, i.e. the potential effect of use of contraceptives on women's empowerment, is relatively unexplored. This study examined the direct impact of contraceptive use on women's empowerment in currently married women aged 15-49 years in India using data from the National Family Health Survey-4 conducted in 2015-16. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression model was used to account for the issue of endogeneity that appears in a general logit model. The use of contraceptives by the sample women was found to be associated with greater women's empowerment in terms of both their mobility and decision-making power. The pathways to greater women's empowerment are often presumed to be factors such as changing perception of their domestic role and sense of control over their own body. While these are integral, this paper highlights how the possible control over family size and birth interval through use of contraception may also be critical pathways to increasing women's empowerment.
妇女赋权对避孕措施使用的积极影响已得到充分证实。然而，避孕措施使用对妇女赋权的潜在影响（即反向效应）相对而言尚未得到充分探索。本研究利用 2015-16 年开展的全国家庭健康调查-4 的数据，考察了目前处于 15-49 岁年龄段的已婚印度妇女使用避孕措施对其赋权的直接影响。采用两阶段最小二乘法（2SLS）回归模型来解决一般逻辑回归模型中出现的内生性问题。研究发现，样本中妇女使用避孕措施与提高其在行动和决策权方面的赋权程度有关。提高妇女赋权的途径通常被认为是改变对其家庭角色的看法以及对自身身体的控制感等因素，但本文强调了通过使用避孕措施来控制家庭规模和生育间隔也可能是提高妇女赋权的关键途径。
