Women’s autonomy and uptake of contraception in Pakistan

Recent years have seen increasing attention being drawn to the issue of gender equality in the demographic and reproductive health literature (Federici, Mason and Sogner, 1993; Jejeebhoy, 1995; Dixon-Mueller, 1998). While some argue for this focus in the language of reproductive rights (Sen, Germain and Chen, 1994), it is also frequently asserted that greater gender equality will contribute positively to fertility decline (see, for example ESCAP, 1987).