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Women's autonomy and pregnancy care in rural India: A contextual analysis

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  • Mistry, Ritesh
  • Galal, Osman
  • Lu, Michael

Abstract

Studies in low-income countries have shown that women's autonomy (i.e. the freedom of women to exercise their judgment in order to act for their own interests) influences a number of reproductive and child health outcomes, including the use of pregnancy care services. However, studies have not examined the full spectrum of pregnancy care services needed for safe motherhood and have not accounted for community context. This study analyzed data on women and their villages from the cross-sectional population-based National Family Health Survey-2 (1998-1999) of rural India to investigate whether women's autonomy (measured in the 3 dimensions of decision-making autonomy, permission to go out, and financial autonomy) was associated with the use of adequate prenatal, delivery and postnatal care. The findings indicate women's autonomy was associated with greater use of pregnancy care services, particularly prenatal and postnatal care. The effect of women's autonomy on pregnancy care use varied according to the region of India examined (North, East and South) such that it was most consistently associated with pregnancy care use in south India, which also had the highest level of self-reported women's autonomy. The results regarding village level factors suggest that public investment in rural economic development, primary health care access, social cohesion and basic infrastructure such as electrification and paved roads were associated with pregnancy care use. Improvements in women's autonomy and these village factors may improve healthier child bearing in rural India.

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  • Mistry, Ritesh & Galal, Osman & Lu, Michael, 2009. "Women's autonomy and pregnancy care in rural India: A contextual analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 926-933, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:69:y:2009:i:6:p:926-933
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    3. Sonalde Desai & Lijuan Wu, 2010. "Structured Inequalities—Factors Associated with Spatial Disparities in Maternity Care in India," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 4(3), pages 293-319, August.
    4. Viens, Laura J. & Clouston, Sean & Messina, Catherine R., 2016. "Women's autonomy and cervical cancer screening in the Lesotho Demographic and Health Survey 2009," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 23-30.
    5. Pratley, Pierre, 2016. "Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: A systematic review of evidence from the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 119-131.
    6. Thapa, Deependra Kaji & Niehof, Anke, 2013. "Women's autonomy and husbands' involvement in maternal health care in Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-10.
    7. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    8. Kathryn M. Yount & Kristin E. VanderEnde & Sylvie Dodell & Yuk Fai Cheong, 2016. "Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt: A National Validation Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1171-1192, September.
    9. Yuvaraj Krishnamoorthy & Marie Gilbert Majella, 2021. "Determinants of postnatal care coverage among mothers and new‐borns in India: Evidence from a nationally representative survey," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1276-1286, July.
    10. Etienne Breton, 2019. "Modernization and Household Composition in India, 1983–2009," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(4), pages 739-766, December.
    11. Tulsi Ram Bhandari & V Raman Kutty & T K Sundari Ravindran, 2016. "Women’s Autonomy and Its Correlates in Western Nepal: A Demographic Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, January.
    12. Isabel Tiago de Oliveira & José G Dias & Sabu S Padmadas, 2014. "Dominance of Sterilization and Alternative Choices of Contraception in India: An Appraisal of the Socioeconomic Impact," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, January.
    13. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
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