Women’s Decision Making Power Is Associated with Withdrawal Use: Evidence from a Community Study in Greater Beirut, Lebanon

Marwan Khawaja, UN-ESCWA

This paper examines the relationship between withdrawal use and women’s decision making power among married women living in poor urban neighbourhoods in Lebanon. Data from a survey of 1022 currently married women, conducted in 2003, are used. The dependent variable is the use of withdrawal as the main contraceptive method. Decision making within the family is measured by scores extracted from an exploratory factor analysis on decision making (i.e., having a final say) on five items. Associations between withdrawal use and the independent variables are assessed by adjusted odds ratios obtained from binary logistic regression. Withdrawal was the most prevalent method of contraception (35%), followed by IUD (24%). Higher decision making was negatively associated with withdrawal use adjusted for other covariates. Place of residence was the only other variable having a significant association with withdrawal use. The majority of women were satisfied with this method apparently due to ‘comfort’.