Women’s Empowerment and Contraceptive Method Use in Egypt

Egypt’s fertility rate reached a 25-year high of 3.5 births per woman in 2014.It is assumed that women’s empowerment plays an important role in women’s choice of a specific contraceptive method. This research brief, by former PRC postdoctoral fellow Goleen Samari, found that use of long-acting methods fell in Egypt between 2005 and 2014, while use of short-acting methods increased. She also found that women’s empowerment increases the likelihood of contraceptive use in Egypt.Population Research Cente

Self-Care, Criminalized: The Criminalization of Self-Managed Abortion from 2000 to 2020

This research provides an evidence-based perspective on the criminalization of abortion, and it aims to provide guidance for abortion seekers; those who support them; and advocates seeking to shift the law, expand access to all methods of abortion care, and advance reproductive justice. This report, the culmination of a multiyear research effort, elucidates the practical reality of the criminalization of abortion for abortion seekers by documenting and analyzing cases across the country in which people have been criminally investigated or arrested for allegedly self-managing their own abortion or helping someone else do so. During this study’s time period (from 2000 to 2020), medication abortion was available to safely and effectively end a pregnancy and abortion rights ostensibly enjoyed constitutional protection under Roe v. Wade. And yet, at least 61 people across 26 states faced criminalization for alleged self-managed abortion, despite the fact that only seven states had explicit self-managed abortion bans (today, Nevada is the only state that retains its ban)

Emotions and decision rightness over five years following an abortion: An examination of decision difficulty and abortion stigma

Available online 13 January 2020, Article 112704Uno de los estudios más grandes sobre las emociones de las mujeres después de un aborto encontró que la mayoría se siente aliviada y no se arrepiente de su elección, incluso si pensaron mucho para tomar la decisión o si se preocuparon por el estigma. Los investigadores descubrieron que a los cinco años de haber tenido un aborto, solo el 6% expresó principalmente emociones negativas. La abrumadora mayoría de las mujeres encuestadas, el 84%, tenían emociones positivas o ninguna con respecto a su decisión de abortar, incluso si no se habían sentido así cuando estaban tomando la decisión de abortar.Poco más de la mitad de las mujeres en esta encuesta dijeron que la decisión de interrumpir el embarazo fue muy difícil y el 27% lo calificó como “algo difícil”. Alrededor del 46% dijo que no fue una decisión difícil en absoluto. Casi el 70% dijo sentir que serían estigmatizadas si las personas supieran que tuvieron un aborto. Las mujeres que dijeron que fue difícil tomar la decisión o se sintieron estigmatizadas por ella tenían más probabilidades de reportar culpa, ira o tristeza inmediatamente después del aborto, pero con el tiempo, estos sentimientos disminuyeron drásticamente, a veces incluso un año después del aborto.La principal emoción que todos los grupos de mujeres en el estudio dijeron que sintieron al final de la encuesta fue el alivio. El alivio era una emoción utilizada para describir cómo se sentían cada vez que se les preguntaba al respecto.www.elsevier.com/locate/socscime

Reproductive justice in the time of COVID-19: a systematic review of the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on sexual and reproductive health

Objective Despite gendered dimensions of COVID-19 becoming increasingly apparent, the impact of COVID-19 and other respiratory epidemics on women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) have yet to be synthesized. This review uses a reproductive justice framework to systematically review empirical evidence of the indirect impacts of respiratory epidemics on SRH. Methods We searched MEDLINE and CINAHL for original, peer-reviewed articles related to respiratory epidemics and women and girls’ SRH through May 31, 2021. Studies focusing on various SRH outcomes were included, however those exclusively examining pregnancy, perinatal-related outcomes, and gender-based violence were excluded due to previously published systematic reviews on these topics. The review consisted of title and abstract screening, full-text screening, and data abstraction. Results Twenty-four studies met all eligibility criteria. These studies emphasized that COVID-19 resulted in service disruptions that effected access to abortion, contraceptives, HIV/STI testing, and changes in sexual behaviors, menstruation, and pregnancy intentions. Conclusions These findings highlight the need to enact policies that ensure equitable, timely access to quality SRH services for women and girls, despite quarantine and distancing policies. Research gaps include understanding how COVID-19 disruptions in SRH service provision, access and/or utilization have impacted underserved populations and those with intersectional identities, who faced SRH inequities notwithstanding an epidemic. More robust research is also needed to understand the indirect impact of COVID-19 and epidemic control measures on a wider range of SRH outcomes (e.g., menstrual disorders, fertility services, gynecologic oncology) in the long-term

Morbidity and nutrition status of rural drug-naïve Kenyan women living with HIV

This paper describes morbidity in a group of HIV-positive drug-naïve rural women in western Kenya. A total of 226 drug-naïve HIV-positive women were evaluated for baseline morbidity, immune function, and anthropometry before a food-based nutrition intervention. Kenyan nurses visited women in their homes and conducted semi-structured interviews regarding symptoms and physical signs experienced at the time of the visit and during the previous week and physical inspection. Blood and urine samples were examined for determination of immune function (CD4, CD8, and total lymphocyte counts), anaemia, malaria, and pregnancy status. Intradermal skin testing with tuberculin (PPD), candida, and tetanus toxoid antigens was also performed to evaluate cell-mediated immunity. Anthropometry was measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Seventy-six per cent of the women reported being sick on the day of the interview or within the previous week. Illnesses considered serious were reported by 13.7% of women. The most frequent morbidity episodes reported were upper respiratory tract infections (13.3%), suspected malaria (5.85%), skeletal pain (4.87%), and stomach pain (4.42%). The most common morbidity signs on physical inspection were respiratory symptoms, most commonly rhinorrhea and coughing. Confirmed malaria and severe diarrhea were significantly associated with a higher BMI

First birth and the trajectory of women’s empowerment in Egypt

Abstract Background Women’s empowerment is often used to explain changes in reproductive behavior, but no consideration is given to how reproductive events can shape women’s empowerment over time. Fertility may cause changes in women’s empowerment, or they may be mutually influencing. Research on women’s empowerment and fertility relies on cross-sectional data from South Asia, which limits the understanding of the direction of association between women’s empowerment and fertility in other global contexts. This study uses two waves of a panel survey from a prominent Middle Eastern country, Egypt, to examine the trajectory of women’s empowerment and the relationship between first and subsequent births and empowerment over time. Methods Using longitudinal data from the 2006 and 2012 Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey, a nationally representative sample of households in Egypt, for 4660 married women 15 to 49 years old, multilevel negative binomial, ordinary least squares, and logistic regression models estimate women’s empowerment and consider whether a first and subsequent births are associated with empowerment later in life. Women’s empowerment is operationalized through four measures of agency: individual household decision-making, joint household decision-making, mobility, and financial autonomy. Results A first birth and subsequent births are significantly positively associated with all measures of empowerment except financial autonomy in 2012. Women who have not had a birth make 30% fewer individual household decisions and 14% fewer joint household decisions in 2012 compared to women with a first birth. There is also a positive relationship with mobility, as women with a first birth have more freedom of movement compared to women with no births. Earlier empowerment is also an important predictor of empowerment later in life. Conclusions Incorporating the influence of life events like first and subsequent births helps account for the possibility that empowerment is dynamic and that life course experiences shape women’s empowerment. This and the notion that empowerment builds over time helps portray women’s lives more completely, demonstrates the importance of empowerment early in the life course, and addresses issues of temporality in empowerment fertility research

Women's Status, Autonomy, and Fertility in Transitional Egypt

Among the 22 Arab countries, Egypt ranks amongst the worst for the treatment of women. Additionally, in the last 6 years, fertility surged to a 20-year high of 3.5 births per woman. Poorer women’s status and autonomy is often linked to high fertility; however, little is known about the factors that shape women’s autonomy and fertility in Egypt. This study evaluates determinants of women’s autonomy and the relationship between autonomy and fertility over time in a representative, longitudinal sample of women amidst a context of social transition: Arab Spring Egypt. Theory suggests that certain life course events, like educational achievement are important in shaping women’s status and autonomy. Household and community effects on women’s autonomy have yet to receive needed research attention. The research is guided by the theory of gender and power and the life course perspective focusing on important events that shape women’s autonomy at multiple levels over the life course. Furthermore, the relationship between women’s autonomy and subsequent fertility behaviors is often assumed, but rarely studied over time. In this study, I look at women’s autonomy and fertility over time in Egypt. Data come from the 2006 and 2012 Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS), a nationally representative sample of households in Egypt and the 2008 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). I use multilevel and standard OLS and Logistic regression models to show the relationship between individual, household, and community characteristics and measures of women’s autonomy and the relationship between women’s autonomy and fertility. Across all autonomy outcomes, region of household and household wealth are consistently associated with women’s autonomy. As expected, due to the greater social conservatism in Upper Egypt, the women in rural and urban Upper Egypt have less autonomy as compared to women in the Cairo region. The rural/urban differences in autonomy with women in rural areas being associated with less autonomy are also consistent with work that shows more patriarchal views in rural Egypt. Results show the importance of women’s social context in Egypt in her level of control and ability to exercise autonomy in the household and greater community. Results indicate that women’s autonomy was greater in 2012 as compared to 2006, and that after the initial uprisings, women reported more household autonomy. While improvements in autonomy in 2012 could be temporary and the data need to cover a longer period of time to capture social changes, this shows some change in women’s status and behavior in the midst of social and political change. Regional variation shows more autonomy in Cairo and less in Upper Egypt. While these improvements could be temporary and the data need to cover a longer period of time, this shows some change in women’s status in the midst of social and political change. Contrary to what was expected, more autonomous women have a higher number of births. It may be that more autonomous women fulfilled social expectations of high fertility, although they personally desired smaller families. This study makes significant contributions to the research on social and gender dynamics in modern Egypt. Additionally, this research uses a range of measures to operationalize autonomy, recognizing that each captures something different about a woman’s household experience. This study is one of the first to describe the household and social determinants of women’s autonomy and fertility in a transitional Egypt, specifically for a sample of women across the life course

Additional file 1: Tables S1 and S2. of First birth and the trajectory of women’s empowerment in Egypt

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