Women’s Reproductive Empowerment: A Comparative Study of Urban and Rural Females in Iran

Women’s reproductive empowerment is an essential issue for good reproductive health which is affected by various socioeconomic and cultural factors. This study was designed to compare women’s reproductive empowerment in urban and rural areas. In this descriptive-analytical and correlational-type study, 810 women referring to health care centers in Sari were recruited through proportional cluster sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire on women’s reproductive empowerment including cultural, individual-family, social, and family planning domains. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical tests. The mean (standard deviation) of women’s reproductive empowerment score was 91.46±13.14 (a 95% CIof 90.55-92.36) and no statistical difference was observed between the urban and rural women in this respect (P = 0.59). In addition, cultural and family planning domains obtained the highest 29.12 (5.80) and the lowest 17.55 (4.25) scores concerning reproductive empowerment, respectively. Therefore, women’s reproductive empowerment score was significantly correlated with the females’ employment status (P = 0.006) and their husbands’ levels of education (P < 0.001). Overall, the finding contributes to the discourse on women’s reproductive empowerment based on their residential area and thus adds to the limited literature on this issue in developing countries and Iran, in particular. Therefore, appropriate planning is required for women with various employment statuses and their spouses with different educational levels in order to improve their empowerment in terms of reproductive issues.