Women’s bargaining power and contraception use in post-Soviet Tajikistan

Abstract

This article aims to examine the relationship between women’s household bargaining power and their adoption of modern contraception in post-Soviet Tajikistan using the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey. The study uses direct measures of bargaining weights: a woman’s ability to make decisions about her own health care; visits to her family or relatives; and contraceptive use. An additional measure defining a woman’s financial capability to receive medical treatment for herself is added in the analysis to understand its correlation to women’s contraceptive-use behaviour. The probability of using contraception is 187 percentage points higher for a woman who has both control over her own health care and financial means to get medical help than a woman who does not have these choices. Having a say in the decision to control births increases the probability of using contraception by 98 percentage points. Our findings reveal that certain aspects of a woman’s household decision-making and financial freedom are relevant to explain her contraceptive-use behaviour.