Does financial autonomy imply reproductive and sexual autonomy? Evidence from urban poor women in Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the association between financial autonomy and three other measures of autonomy – sexual autonomy, perceived reproductive autonomy and actual reproductive autonomy in Ga-Mashie, Accra, Ghana. From anthropological accounts, the financial independence of women from this community, coupled with unique living arrangements, have resulted in them being independent and autonomous. The analytical sample consists of 172 women who were in union at the time of the survey. Binary logistic and ordered logistic regression models ran between financial autonomy and the other measures of autonomy, and controlling for relevant socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the women, reveal that in this context, financial autonomy does not have the perceived effect of increasing autonomy in the three other spheres. Rather, measures that hint at egalitarianism and close marital relationships – namely, marital power, agreement with partners about reproductive issues and marital duration – are more significantly associated with sexual and reproductive autonomy. We conclude that, coupled with schemes to increase the financial autonomy of women, in this context, other measures aimed at improving marital relationships should be explored and encouraged.

KEYWORDS:

• sexual autonomy
• reproductive autonomy
• financial autonomy
• women
• Ghana

Notes on Contributors

Naa Dodua Dodoo is a lecturer at RIPS at the University of Ghana in Accra. She studies women’s status and its associations with family health and well-being, and sexual and reproductive health of adolescents.

D. Yaw Atiglo is a post-doctoral fellow at RIPS at the University of Ghana in Accra. His research areas include gendered vulnerability, population and environment, and reproductive health.

Adriana Biney is a lecturer at RIPS at the University of Ghana in Accra. Her research interests are centered on women’s and adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) challenges especially among the urban poor in Accra.

Nurudeen Alhassan is a knowledge translation scientist at the African Institute for Development Policy. His research interests are in gender dynamics and the reproductive health of adolescents and youth in sub-Saharan Africa.

Maame B. Peterson recently obtained her PhD in Population Studies at the University of Ghana, Accra. Her research interests focus on Gender, Urban Poverty and Health, and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health.

F. Nii-Amoo Dodoo holds positions as Liberal Arts Research professor in the sociology department at Penn State University and professor at the University of Ghana. He works on scientific capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa; gender, power, and sexual decisions; and urban poverty and health.

Notes

1. Four respondents out of the 172 fell in this ‘not applicable’ category.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by International Development Research Centre [grant number 105814], European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), William and Flora Hewlett Foundation [grant number 2007-9823].