Division of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
EPIUnit-Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Reprod Health. 2024 Feb 2;21(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s12978-024-01748-7.
Women in Mozambique are often disempowered when it comes to making decisions concerning their lives, including their bodies and reproductive options. This study aimed to explore the views of women in Mozambique about key elements of empowerment for reproductive decisions and the meanings they attach to these elements.
Qualitative in-depth interviews were undertaken with 64 women of reproductive age (18-49 years) in two provinces in Mozambique. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling. Data collection took place between February and March 2020 in Maputo city and Province, and during August 2020 in Nampula Province. A thematic analysis was performed.
Women described crucial elements of how power is exerted for reproductive choices. These choices include the ability to plan the number and timing of pregnancies and the ability either to negotiate with sexual partners by voicing choice and influencing decisions, or to exercise their right to make decisions independently. They considered that women with empowerment had characteristics such as independence, active participation and being free. These characteristics are recognized key enablers for the process of women's empowerment.
This study's findings contribute to an expanded conceptualization and operationalization of women's sexual and reproductive empowerment by unveiling key elements that need to be considered in future research and approaches to women's empowerment. Furthermore, it gave women the central role and voice in the research of empowerment's conceptualization and measurement where women's views and meanings are seldom considered.
在莫桑比克，女性在涉及自身生活、包括身体和生殖选择的决策方面往往处于无权地位。本研究旨在探讨莫桑比克女性对生殖决策赋权的关键要素的看法，以及她们对这些要素的理解。
在莫桑比克两个省份的 64 名育龄妇女（18-49 岁）中进行了定性深入访谈。参与者通过便利抽样招募。数据收集于 2020 年 2 月至 3 月在马普托市和省进行，2020 年 8 月在楠普拉省进行。进行了主题分析。
女性描述了行使生殖选择权力的关键要素。这些选择包括计划怀孕数量和时间的能力，以及通过表达选择和影响决策与性伴侣协商的能力，或者行使独立决策的权利。她们认为赋权的女性具有独立、积极参与和自由的特点。这些特征被认为是赋予妇女权力过程的关键促成因素。
本研究的结果有助于扩大对妇女性和生殖赋权的概念化和操作化，揭示未来研究和妇女赋权方法中需要考虑的关键要素。此外，它使妇女在赋权概念化和衡量的研究中处于中心地位并赋予其发言权，而在这些研究中，妇女的观点和意义很少被考虑。
