Women Empowerment and Women Health in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract The study links up women empowerment to health and wellbeing outcomes of women in sub-Saharan Africa. Existing literature suggests that women empowerment influences reproductive health outcomes such as fertility, birth interval and contraceptive use. The evidence however remains mixed and tends to be country specific owing to the difficulties in measuring empowerment and health. The study links different dimensions of women empowerment to health outcomes of women in sub-Saharan African countries. Micro data from the Demographic Health Surveys for 26 sub-Saharan African countries from 2008 to 2020 is used to assess the link between women empowerment and health status. The Women Empowerment Index is built from four main dimensions namely economic, social, psychological and legal/political empowerment. Family planning use and maternal health are indicators used for women’s health. Women’s empowerment is hypothesised as a predictor of reproductive health outcomes. There is evidence of a positive link between women empowerment and women health.