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Abstract
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The dimensions of womens autonomy and their relationship to reproductive behavior were investigated in a representative sample of 700 Kurdish women in Mahabad, Iran. We examined the impact of direct, indirect, and theoretical dimension of womens autonomy on reproductive behavior in three areas: contraceptive use, unmet need for contraception, and fertility behavior. The results show that the majority of women have moderate level of autonomy. According to the findings there were different relationship between each dimension of women's autonomy and three indicators of reproductive behavior. Our finding indicates the significant relationship between theoretical dimension of women's autonomy and three indicators of reproductive behavior. After controlling for childbearing desires, the ideal number of children, and children surviving, women with moderate and high level of theoretical autonomy were more likely to use contraceptive methods, to have no unmet need for family planning, and to have low fertility. More analyses demonstrated that indirect dimension was significantly related to fertility behavior and unmet need for family planning, while the relationship between direct dimension was only significant to contraceptive use. According to the results, theoretical dimension of women's autonomy is the most important variable predicting fertility behavior. Based on these findings, it is anticipated that the reversal in the population policy of Iran just leads to increase in fertility among women of low social strata with low levels of women's autonomy. Given the results of this study, the focus of new government population policy should be upon family support measures, especially upon policies that enable young couples to balance work and family.
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