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Md. Moshiur Rahman, MSc, Popualtion Council, House #CES(B) 21, Road #118, Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 88028821227, moshiur@pcdhaka.org, M. E. Khan, PhD, Bangladesh Country Office, Population Council Asia & Near East Region, House CES (B) 21, Road 118, Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Sharif M. I. Hossain, Population Council, House no CES(B) 21, Road no. 118, Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The empowerment of women has been recognized as a basic human right and also as imperative for national development. Women empowerment is essential to gain the reproductive and sexual health right as well as to ensure a good quality of life in the context of prevailing socio-economic and political environment.
The present paper tries to understand how empowerment of women influences her reproductive and sexual life. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to collect the relevant information. It includes a large sample survey (N=3900) of currently married women, complement by some in-depth interviews and 38 focus group discussions.
Based on a number of questions, an index of gender equity was developed. This was taken as a measure of empowerment of women. Using logistic regression model attempt was made to understand how gender equity influence reproductive and sexual behavior of women. Some of the parameters of RH that the present study use include use of contraceptive methods, enhanced husband-wife communication on reproduction and sexual matters, no or less physical and sexual violence and better antenatal / reproductive health care incase of pregnancy or sickness. Observations from FGDs and in-depth interviews complemented the findings. The results clearly show that women who had enjoyed better gender equity had better reproductive and sexual life also.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Women,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.