Women’s Autonomy as a Determinant of Contraceptive Use and Method Choice among Women in Bangladesh

S. M. Mostafa Kamal, Islamic University

This study examined the association between women’s autonomy and contraceptive use and method choice among women in Bangladesh using data from the nationally representative 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Simple cross tabulation, multivariable binary and multinomial logistic regression models were constructed to examine the association between women’s autonomy and contraceptive use and method choice. Almost one-fourth of the women had higher level of decision-making autonomy. Overall, 62% of the currently married women were using any contraceptive method; reporting with 52% were modern method users. The women with higher autonomy were significantly (P<0.001) more likely to use any contraceptive method (ORadj.=2.30, 95% CI=2.10-2.52); and were more preferred to adopt modern methods (ORadj.=2.29, 95% CI=2.09-2.52) and traditional method (ORadj.=2.33, 95% CI=2.00-2.72) over non-use, than women with low autonomy. Thus, women’s household decision-making autonomy needs to be considered as an important barrier for the use of family planning method and method choice.