Does Women Empowerment alone Influence Contraception utilization in Bangladesh perspective? Findings from demographic health survey 2017-18 using A SEM analysis

BackgroundWomen empowerment is a crucial issue that is less studied as a factor of contraception use among married women which helps to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). The present study aims to assess the relationship between women empowerment and contraception use. MethodsThis cross-sectional study used Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey data 2017-18 which included 12006 (weighted) women aged from 15-49 years old. Hierarchical logistic regression and structural equation model (SEM) were used to show the relationship between women empowerment and contraception use. ResultsOverall, the tend to using contraception was increased with increased age, urban residence, increased wealth index and education level of both husband and wife. The findings from regression model showed that women empowerment in terms of women decision making, attitude to violence and social independence significantly influence the contraception use after controlling the covariates (p<0.05). SEM analysis showed negative relationship with overall women empowerment and contraception use ({beta}= -0.138) which was not significant (p>0.05). ConclusionThis study implies that greater women empowerment may not always act as stronger determinant for using contraception, and therefore other contributing factors such as age, education, religion, husbands participation, joined decision making, economic status and couple relationship should be warranted.