Women's decision-making autonomy and children's schooling in rural Mozambique.

BackgroundWomen's decision-making autonomy in developing settings has been shown to improve child survival and health outcomes. However, little research has addressed possible connections between women's autonomy and children's schooling.ObjectiveTo examine the relationship between rural women's decision-making autonomy and enrollment status of primary school-age children living in their households and how this relationship differs by child's gender.MethodsThe analysis uses data from a 2009 survey of rural households in four districts of Gaza province in southern Mozambique. Multilevel logistic models predict the probability of being in school for children between 6 and 14 years old.ResultsThe results show a positive association of women's decision-making autonomy with the probability of being enrolled in primary school for daughters, but not for sons. The effect of women's autonomy is net of other women's characteristics typically associated with enrollment and does not mediate the effects of those characteristics.ConclusionsBased on the results, we argue that women with higher levels of decision-making autonomy may have a stronger preference for daughters' schooling and may have a greater say in making and implementing decisions regarding daughters' education, compared to women with lower autonomy levels. Results also illustrate a need for considering a broader set of autonomy-related characteristics when examining the effects of women's status on children's educational outcomes

Marriage, childbearing, and migration in Kyrgyzstan: exploring interdependencies

In our study we investigate interdependencies between entry into a marital union, childbirth, and migration. We apply event-history techniques to retrospective data on women aged 18-29 from a survey conducted in northern Kyrgyzstan in 2005 to examine how these events can influence one another, with a special focus on the effects of duration of exposure. In addition we analyze the impact of some individual characteristics on the propensity to get married, to become a mother, and to migrate. In our analysis we account for several duration dependences (‘clocks’). The results illustrate that months since marriage formation is the most important duration variable in the first-birth propensities model. Out-of-wedlock conception is associated with increased marriage risks. Migration is often a part of the family building process: high first-birth propensities of recent migrants as well as high migration risks among pregnant women are due to marriage-related migration.Kyrgyzstan

Place, time and experience: barriers to universalization of institutional child delivery in rural Mozambique

CONTEXT: Although institutional coverage of childbirth is increasing in the developing world, a substantial minority of births in rural Mozambique still occur outside of health facilities. Identifying the remaining barriers to safe professional delivery services can aid in achieving universal coverage. METHODS: Survey data collected in 2009 from 1,373 women in Gaza, Mozambique, were used in combination with spatial, meteorological and health facility data to examine patterns in place of delivery. Geographic information system–based visualization and mapping and exploratory spatial data analysis were used to outline the spatial distribution of home deliveries. Multilevel logistic regression models were constructed to identify associations between individual, spatial and other characteristics and whether women's most recent delivery took place at home. RESULTS: Spatial analysis revealed high- and low-prevalence clusters of home births. In multivariate analyses, women with a higher number of clinics within 10 kilometers of their home had a reduced likelihood of home delivery, but those living closer to urban centers had an increased likelihood. Giving birth during the rainy, high agricultural season was positively associated with home delivery, while household wealth was negatively associated with home birth. No associations were evident for measures of exposure to and experience with health institutions. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest the need for a comprehensive approach to expansion of professional delivery services. Such an approach should complement measures facilitating physical access to health institutions for residents of harder-to-reach areas with community-based interventions aimed at improving rural women's living conditions and opportunities, while also taking into account seasonal and other variables

Bridging user and provider perspectives: Family planning access and utilization in rural Mozambique

Objectives: To examine how the contraceptive behavior of women in rural southern Mozambique is shaped by their individual and household characteristics; community characteristics; access to family planning services; and characteristics of health facilities.<p></p> Methods: Quantitative and qualitative data were collected mostly between January 20 and December 15, 2011, in rural areas of four districts in Gaza Province, Mozambique. The data included: a retrospective household-based survey of women of reproductive age (the analytical sample consisted of 1554 non-pregnant women in marital union); qualitative interviews with a subsample of surveyed women; a survey of communities where the women resided (n = 56); and a survey of all health facilities in the study area (n = 56). Binomial and multinomial logistic models were fitted to predict current use of modern contraceptive methods. Statistical analyses were complemented by insights from qualitative data.<p></p> Results: Positive associations were detected between contraceptive use and education, household wealth, and perceived HIV infection status. Distance to the clinic was negatively associated with contraceptive use. These effects were additive, with some varying by type of contraceptive method. Examination of qualitative data highlighted frequent cognitive dissonance between service providers and users.<p></p> Conclusion: A simultaneous consideration of user-level and provider-level perspectives on contraceptive use improves our understanding of contraceptive dynamics and can usefully inform policy

Sampling and Surveying Hard-to-Reach Populations for Demographic Research

Because household-based survey designs are notoriously ineffective in studying hard-to-reach groups such as irregular migrants, these groups, however numerically large they may be, are rarely represented in demographic analyses. In this paper, we report on the application of a workplace-based stratified probability sampling design, response rate, and item-specific refusals in a recent study of irregular female migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan working in bazaars, eateries, and small retail outlets in Moscow, Russia. We argue that workplace-based survey, while not flawless, provides a uniquely feasible and cost-effective tool for studying irregular migrants and other marginalized groups.Central Asia, migration, Russia, sampling, survey methodology

Marriage, childbearing, and migration in Kyrgyzstan: Exploring interdependencies

In our study we investigate interdependencies between entry into a marital union, childbearing, and migration. We apply event-history techniques to retrospective data on women aged 18-29 from a survey conducted in northern Kyrgyzstan in 2005 to examine how these events can influence one another, with a special focus on the effects of duration of exposure. In addition we analyze the impact of some individual characteristics on the propensity to get married, to become a mother, and to migrate. In our analysis we account for several duration dependences (‘clocks’). The results illustrate that months since marriage formation is the most important duration variable in the first-birth propensities model. Out-of-wedlock conception is associated with increased marriage risks. Migration is often a part of the family building process: high first-birth propensities of recent migrants as well as high migration risks among pregnant women are due to marriage-related migration.childbearing, duration dependency, Kyrgyzstan, marriage, migration

WOMEN’S RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN A SUB-SAHARAN SETTING Dialectics of Empowerment and Dependency

Western scholarship on religion and gender has devoted considerable attention to women’s entry into leadership roles across various religious traditions and denominations. However, very little is known about the dynamics of women’s religious authority and leadership in developing settings, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of powerful and diverse religious expressions. This study employs a combination of uniquely rich and diverse data to examine women’s formal religious authority in a predominantly Christian setting in Mozambique. I first use survey data to test hypotheses regarding the prevalence and patterns of women’s formal leadership across different denominational groups. I then support and extend the quantitative results with insights on pathways and consequences of women’s ascent to formal congregation authority drawn from qualitative data. The analysis illustrates how women’s religious authority both defies and reasserts the gendered constraints of the religious marketplace and the broader gender ideology in this developing context

Women’s Schooling and Religious Mobility: Joining, Switching, and Quitting Church in a Christian Sub-Saharan Setting

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Sociology of Religion following peer review. The version of record [Agadjanian, Victor. “Women's Schooling and Religious Mobility: Joining, Switching, and Quitting Church in a Christian Sub-Saharan Setting.” Sociology of religion vol. 78,4 (2017): 411-436. doi:10.1093/socrel/srx027] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srx027.In dialogue with mainly western literature on determinants of religious mobility and the evidence on the transformative role of mass education in developing settings, I examine the relationship of educational attainment with religious reaffiliation and disaffiliation in the context of rural and small-town sub-Saharan Africa. Adapting western scholarship to the realities of that context, where most people do not complete primary school, I conceptualize both basic education and religious belonging as parts and expressions of profound societal transformations in the sub-continent. I use data from a survey of women aged 18–50 years conducted in a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique to test this relationship from both the lifetime and dynamic perspectives. I find a strong positive association between educational level and the probability of church switching, with modest variations by denominational destination of and main reasons for reaffiliation. Disaffiliation is negatively related to schooling level. These findings are situated within a broader discourse on religion, development, and social change in the sub-Sahara