RURAL-URBAN DIFFERENTIALS OF GENDER INEQUALITY AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AMONG MARRIED WOMEN IN SOUTHWESTERN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The present study aims at determining the effect of gender inequality on the reproductive health of married women in two villages within the district of Satkhira and two municipal wards of Khulna City Corporation in Bangladesh. The study was conducted on married women by using questionnaire technique, case study and observation methods. Data were collected by the interviewers from October 2007 to January 2008. The relationships between gender inequalities and reproductive health were analyzed, focusing on some specific factors that affect the extent of reproductive health problems among the married women in both urban and rural areas. The findings of this study suggest the fact that the majority of the women in study area are not only aware about the concept of gender inequality but also their ignorant about their own sexual and reproductive rights, and as such they have very limited control over their own physical bodies. Because traditional beliefs have kept them under the shadow of their fathers and husbands and due to the effect of gender inequality they are deprived of getting basic reproductive health rights. The overall objective of this study was to identify the relationship between gender inequalities and reproductive health and to seek a modest attempt to find out the factors that affect the state of reproductive health of married women in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh.