The effects of women’s empowerment and gender related variables on modern contraceptive use among married women in dire dawa administrative, Ethiopia in 2018

Background: Women’s empowerment is a process by which those who have been denied the ability to make a strategic life choices acquire such ability. Women’s empowerment increase with education and economic status and thereby influences fertility and also associated with contraceptive use. The main objective of this study was to investigate the determinants of family planning services focusing on women’s empowerment and gender related factors among married women or living with a partner in Dire Dawa Administration, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional community study design using cluster random sampling technique was employed. Data collection was done using self-administered questionnaire among 1,190 married women and data was fed and analyzed into SPSS 20. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were applied. Results: The finding revealed that 410 (34.5%) of married women were use contraceptive methods. The finding indicates that the older the women the less contraceptive user (OR=0.958) and Muslim married women were less contraceptive user (OR=0.482) whereas women were more contraceptive user when they made a decision on the use of contraceptive methods by themselves only. Women’s empowerment and many of the socio-economic and gender-related control measures were significantly associated with use of contraceptives. Dimensions of women’s empowerment representing women attitudes towards refusing sex, women’s reading media exposure and ownership of assets had a positive association with contraceptive use. Conclusions: The Ethiopian government has so far improved access to modern contraceptives, but utilization is still lagging, mainly due to lack of women empowerment, due to religious influence and limited contraceptive knowledge. Therefore, the government and concerned bodies should work to increase empowerments of women’s and usage of contraceptive method.