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Access to Money and Relation to Women’s Use of Family Planning Methods Among Young Married Women in Rural India

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Abstract

Objectives The social positioning (i.e. social status and autonomy) of women in the household facilitates women’s access to and decision-making power related to family planning (FP). Women’s access to spending money, which may be an indicator of greater social positioning in the household, may also be greater among women who engage in income generating activities for their families, regardless of women’s status in the household. However, in both scenarios, access to money may independently afford greater opportunity to obtain family planning services among women. This study seeks to assess whether access to money is associated with FP outcomes independently of women’s social positioning in their households. Methods Using survey data from married couples in rural Maharashtra, India (n = 855), crude and adjusted regression was used to assess women’s access to their own spending money in relation to past 3 month use of condoms and other forms of contraceptives (pills, injectables, intrauterine device). Results Access to money (59 %) was associated with condom and other contraceptive use (AORs ranged 1.5–1.8). These findings remained significant after adjusting for women’s FP decision-making power in the household and mobility to seek FP services. Conclusion While preliminary, findings suggest that access to money may increase women’s ability to obtain FP methods, even in contexts where social norms to support women’s power in FP decision-making may not be readily adopted.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants of the CHARM study as well as all research staff who supported data collection for this project. We would also like to thank Drs. Suryawanshi S.S., Gajanan Velhal of BYL Nair Hospital and TN Medical College Mumbai, and the Primary Health Centers and private health care providers of project areas for supporting CHARM intervention delivery. The study was funded by grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Grant #2011-37366; Principal Investigator: Anita Raj), the National Institutes of Health Indo-US Joint Working Group on Contraception and Reproductive Health Research (Grant Number R01HD061115; Joint Principal Investigators: Anita Raj and Niranjan Saggurti), and the Department of Biotechnology, India. Finally, we would like to thank our Project Officer at NICHD, Susan Newcomer, for her consistent support of this Indo-US Research study

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Global Public Health, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0507, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, 92093-0507, USA

    Elizabeth Reed, Anindita Dasgupta, Jay Silverman & Anita Raj

  2. Center for Gender Equity and Health, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA

    Elizabeth Reed, Anindita Dasgupta, Jay Silverman & Anita Raj

  3. Population Council, New Delhi, India

    Madhusudana Battala

  4. National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai, India

    Balaiah Donta, Mohan Ghule, Saritha Nair, Arun Jadhav & Prajakta Palaye

  5. Department of Society, Human Development and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Jay Silverman

  6. Clinical Addiction Research and Education, Section of General, Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Anita Raj

  7. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New Delhi, India

    Niranjan Saggurti

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  1. Elizabeth Reed
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Reed.

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Reed, E., Donta, B., Dasgupta, A. et al. Access to Money and Relation to Women’s Use of Family Planning Methods Among Young Married Women in Rural India. Matern Child Health J 20, 1203–1210 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-016-1921-4

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