IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v75y2012i12p2403-2411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Couples’ reports of household decision-making and the utilization of maternal health services in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Story, William T.
  • Burgard, Sarah A.

Abstract

This study examines the association between maternal health service utilization and household decision-making in Bangladesh. Most studies of the predictors of reproductive health service utilization focus on women’s reports; however, men are often involved in these decisions as well. Recently, studies have started to explore the association between health outcomes and reports of household decision-making from both husbands and wives as matched pairs. Many studies of household decision-making emphasize the importance of the wife alone making decisions; however, some have argued that joint decision-making between husbands and wives may yield better reproductive health outcomes than women making decisions without input or agreement from their partners. Husbands’ involvement in decision-making is particularly important in Bangladesh because men often dominate household decisions related to large, health-related purchases. We use matched husband and wife reports about who makes common household decisions to predict use of antenatal and skilled delivery care, using data from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Results from regression analyses suggest that it is important to consider whether husbands and wives give concordant responses about who makes household decisions since discordant reports about who makes these decisions are negatively associated with reproductive health care use. In addition, compared to joint decision-making, husband-only decision-making is negatively associated with antenatal care use and skilled delivery care. Finally, associations between household decision-making arrangements and health service utilization vary depending on whose report is used and the type of health service utilized.

Suggested Citation

  • Story, William T. & Burgard, Sarah A., 2012. "Couples’ reports of household decision-making and the utilization of maternal health services in Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2403-2411.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:12:p:2403-2411
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953612006806
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.09.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gipson, J.D. & Hindin, M.J., 2008. ""Having another child would be a life or death situation for her": Understanding pregnancy termination among couples in rural Bangladesh," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(10), pages 1827-1832.
    2. Mullany, Britta C. & Hindin, Michelle J. & Becker, Stan, 2005. "Can women's autonomy impede male involvement in pregnancy health in Katmandu, Nepal?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(9), pages 1993-2006, November.
    3. Mumtaz, Zubia & Salway, Sarah, 2009. "Understanding gendered influences on women's reproductive health in Pakistan: Moving beyond the autonomy paradigm," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1349-1356, April.
    4. Goetz, Anne Marie & Gupta, Rina Sen, 1996. "Who takes the credit? Gender, power, and control over loan use in rural credit programs in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 45-63, January.
    5. Becker, Stan & Fonseca-Becker, Fannie & Schenck-Yglesias, Catherine, 2006. "Husbands' and wives' reports of women's decision-making power in Western Guatemala and their effects on preventive health behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2313-2326, May.
    6. Paul, Bimal Kanti & Rumsey, Deborah J., 2002. "Utilization of health facilities and trained birth attendants for childbirth in rural Bangladesh: an empirical study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(12), pages 1755-1765, June.
    7. Carter, Marion, 2002. "Husbands and maternal health matters in rural Guatemala: wives' reports on their spouses' involvement in pregnancy and birth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 437-450, August.
    8. Kabeer, Naila, 2001. "Conflicts Over Credit: Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Loans to Women in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 63-84, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Md Abdullah Al Jubayer Biswas & Mohammad Abdullah Kafi & Muhammad Manwar Morshed Hemel & Mondar Maruf Moin Ahmed & Sharful Islam Khan, 2022. "Women empowerment and sexually transmitted infections: Evidence from Bangladesh demographic and health survey 2014," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Fernandez, Antonia & Kambhampati, Uma S., 2017. "Shared agency: The dominant spouse’s impact on education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 182-197.
    3. Bussolo,Maurizio & Sarma,Nayantara & Williams,Anaise Marie, 2021. "It Takes Two (To Make Things Right) : Women's Empowerment and Couple Concordance in South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9545, The World Bank.
    4. Ambler, Kate & Doss, Cheryl & Kieran, Caitlin & Passarelli, Simone, 2022. "Spousal concordance in joint and separate households: Survey evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Abu Ansar Md Rizwan & Salina Canadi & Sujit Kumar Banik & Zubaida Iftekhar & Md. Hafizul Islam & Md. Ebrahim Khalil & Gayettri Rani & Abeer Mohammad Hossain, 2023. "Knowledge of the behavioral risk factors of the family members of the patients with non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh," Journal of Scientific Reports, IJSAB International, vol. 5(1), pages 61-68.
    6. 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.
    7. Selamah Yusof, 2015. "Household Decision-Making in Malaysia: The Ethnic Dimension," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 283-293, October.
    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. Stan Becker & Amanda Kalamar, 2018. "Sampling Weights for Analyses of Couple Data: Example of the Demographic and Health Surveys," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(4), pages 1447-1473, August.
    10. Annan, Jeannie & Donald, Aletheia & Goldstein, Markus & Gonzalez Martinez, Paula & Koolwal, Gayatri, 2021. "Taking power: Women’s empowerment and household Well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    11. Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah & Sabah, Md Nasim-Us Sabah & Uddin, Jalal & Enemark, Ulrika, 2015. "Progress in utilization of antenatal and delivery care services in Bangladesh: Where does the equity gap lie?," MPRA Paper 63496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Panu Poutvaara & Maximilian Schwefer, 2018. "Husbands’ and wives’ diverging perceptions on who decides," ifo Working Paper Series 279, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    13. Jahar Bhowmik & Raaj Kishore Biswas & Nurjahan Ananna, 2020. "Women’s education and coverage of skilled birth attendance: An assessment of Sustainable Development Goal 3.1 in the South and Southeast Asian Region," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    14. 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.
    15. Amit Kumar Biswas & Taufiq-E-Ahmed Shovo & Moutithi Aich & Sykat Mondal, 2017. "Women’s Autonomy and Control to Exercise Reproductive Rights: A Sociological Study from Rural Bangladesh," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, June.
    16. Garcia, Italo Lopez & Fernald, Lia C.H. & Aboud, Frances E. & Otieno, Ronald & Alu, Edith & Luoto, Jill E., 2022. "Father involvement and early child development in a low-resource setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    17. Allison Ruark & Rachel Chase & John Hembling & Valerie Rhoe Davis & Paul Clayton Perrin & Dorothy Brewster-Lee, 2017. "Measuring couple relationship quality in a rural African population: Validation of a Couple Functionality Assessment Tool in Malawi," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Uddin, Jalal & Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah & Sabah, Md. Nasim-Us, 2015. "Couple’s reports of household decision-making, unmet need for contraception, and unintended pregnancy in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 63757, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Mahmud, Simeen & Shah, Nirali M. & Becker, Stan, 2012. "Measurement of Women’s Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 610-619.
    3. Ngo, Thi Minh-Phuong & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2012. "Microfinance and gender empowerment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 1-12.
    4. 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.
    5. Maria Porter, 2016. "Effects of microcredit and other loans on female empowerment in Bangladesh: the borrower's gender influences intra-household resource allocation," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(2), pages 235-245, March.
    6. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    7. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    8. Islam, Asadul & Nguyen, Chau & Smyth, Russell, 2015. "Does microfinance change informal lending in village economies? Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 141-156.
    9. Lídia Farré, 2013. "The Role of Men in the Economic and Social Development of Women: Implications for Gender Equality," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 22-51, February.
    10. Rao, Smriti, 2008. "Reforms with a Female Face: Gender, Liberalization, and Economic Policy in Andhra Pradesh, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1213-1232, July.
    11. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    12. Boulier, Bryan & Emran, M. Shahe & Hoque, Nazmul, 2021. "Access to Credit, Education, and Women’s Say in the Household: Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 109009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    14. Sekhon, Sumeet & Grant, Miriam, 2021. "Patterns of loan use for women’s self-help groups in rural Rajasthan," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    15. Tunvir Ahamed Shohel & Sara Niner & Samanthi J. Gunawardana, 2023. "‘Even Though I Get a Loan, My Husband Controls It’: Rhetoric Versus Reality of Empowering Bangladeshi Women Through Microfinance Programs," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(4), pages 794-819, August.
    16. Schicks, Jessica, 2014. "Over-Indebtedness in Microfinance – An Empirical Analysis of Related Factors on the Borrower Level," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 301-324.
    17. Weber, Olaf & Ahmad, Adnan, 2014. "Empowerment Through Microfinance: The Relation Between Loan Cycle and Level of Empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    18. Zakir Husain & Diganta Mukerjee & Mousumi Dutta, 2014. "Self‐Help Groups And Empowerment Of Women: Self‐Selection, Or Actual Benefits?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 422-437, May.
    19. Chin, Yoo-Mi, 2012. "Credit Program Participation and Decline in Violence: Does Self-Selection Matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1690-1699.
    20. Scott, Lucy, 2012. "Contested Relationships: Women's Economic and Social Empowerment, Insights from the Transfer of Material Assets in Bangladesh," WIDER Working Paper Series 002, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:75:y:2012:i:12:p:2403-2411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.