Gendered Power and the Use of Contraception and Condoms among Married Women in Ghana

Abstract

Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data are used to examine what predicts current contraception and condom use among married women in Ghana. Women’s gender-based power is examined in the three dimensions of interpersonal decision-making power, household status, and socioeconomic status; these dimensions are considered as predictor or focal variables. Ghanaian women’s higher sexual decision-making power, greater education, work outside of the home, work for pay, more living children, and monogamous marriages are associated with a greater likelihood of contraceptive use. Higher contraceptive use is found among young urban women who do not want more children and who have been visited by a family planning worker. In contrast, condom use is shaped by different factors that highlight its distinctiveness as being male-controlled. Policy planning should consider the importance of women’s power and the uniqueness of condom use as a male-controlled contraceptive method as well as the positive effect of contact with a family planning worker in shaping both contraceptive and condom use.

Keywords:

• gender
• empowerment
• contraception
• condoms
• Africa

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Grasmick Summer Research Award at the University of Oklahoma.