The Effect of Women’s Empowerment on Utilisation of Reproductive Health Services in Ghana

Abstract

The study examined the effect of women’s empowerment on utilisation of reproductive health services in Ghana. Women’s empowerment dimensions included access to economic resources and social norms, while reproductive health services comprised: (contraceptive use, timing of first antenatal visits, skilled birth attendance and place of delivery). The study used the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2008, dataset, which is a nationally representative sample. From the two empowerment dimensions, the study computed four empowerment indices using Polychoric Principal Components Analysis (PCA), which was centered on economic power, family decision, acceptance of violence and women’s autonomy. The marginal effects from probit regression result showed that after controlling for socio-demographic variables: 1) Economic power was found to be associated with modern contraceptive use and timing of first antenatal visits. No positive significant association was found between economic power and the other two reproductive health service variables. 2) Family decision was not associated with any of the four reproductive health variables. 3) Not accepting justification for wife beating was associated with skilled birth attendance and place of delivery, but not associated with contraceptive use and timing of first antenatal visits. 4) Women’s Autonomy was also not associated with any of the four reproductive health services. Interventions and policies that are aimed at empowering women to take charge of their reproductive health should focus particularly on women’s access to economic resources and informal institutions.