Abstract:
Abstract: Women’s autonomy and its association with maternal and child health
care have emerged as a focal point of investigations and interventions around the
world. It is also an important issue in Bangladesh. In this paper, different
dimensions of women’s autonomy and their influences into maternal and child
health-care utilization are investigated using data from BDHS 2007. The core
hypothesis behind this work is that, women’s with higher autonomy will be more
likely to use maternal and child health care services. We employed binary logistic
regression and multinomial logistic regression model for the multivariate analyses
part. In this study, women’s autonomy defined as women’s decision making power
relative to their male partners. Women’s autonomy has increased with age,
education, employment and number of children. This study showed that maximum
autonomy indicators were important predictors of maternal and child health care
utilization. Policymakers need to address women’s autonomy in the household in
addition to implement direct health interventions towards improvement of maternal
health & child health care.
