Women's Education, Autonomy and Their Linkages with Contraception Use in India

Abstract

Fertility and use of contraception in developing countries have found to be linked with various markers of socioeconomic status, of which women's education is the most prominent, and it is also proposed that autonomy acts as a mediator link between literacy and contraception use. This study attempts to explore the relation between women's education and autonomy, which is taken through various dimensions with that of contraception use in India. For this study Indian Human Development Survey II, data has been used, in which married women aged 15–49 years was taken as a sample size (n=23, 457.). Some socio-demographic variables were used to investigate the association between women's education, autonomy and use of contraception. It was observed that out of all the contraception methods sterilization is the most common method practiced and is seen high in 45–50 years’ age group and women with no education. North eastern states like Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, and Nagaland are observed to be using modern contraception method which is unlikely in the northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab where traditional methods are still in practice. Women's education was seen to have some association with the use of contraception, but when women's education combined with decision-making autonomy, physical movement freedom, and economic self-sufficiency, it did not show much significance. Women's dependence does not seem to have significance association with contraception use as that of women's level of education.