TITLE:
Empowerment as a Mediator between Education and Reproductive Health Care in Egypt: The Impact of Poverty and Residence
AUTHORS:
Rasha Aly Mohamed Aly
KEYWORDS:
Education, Empowerment as a Mediator, Reproductive Health Care, Wealth Index, Residence, Poverty, Multiple-Group Path Analysis, Egypt
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.3,
March
10,
2021
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Since women’s access to the required reproductive health care reduces
maternal and foetal deaths and postpartum complications for both, this study
examined the role of poverty and residence on the model where empowerment
played a mediating role between education and women’s access to reproductive
health care. Methods: The study used the Multiple-Group Path Analysis
based on the 2014 Egypt’s Demographic Health Survey. Results: Women’s
Empowerment acts as a partial mediator between their education and receiving
reproductive health care, while it acts as a full mediator between the
husband’s education and the woman’s reception of that care. There are no significant
differences among the categories of the residence and wealth models with regard
to both the effect of education, of the woman and her husband, on empowerment
and the effect of the latter on receiving health care. There is a significant
difference among the categories of the wealth model regarding the effect of
women’s education on receiving health care, whereas this difference does not
exist among the residence model categories. Conclusion: The effect of
both women’s education and empowerment on receiving reproductive health care is
higher among the poor and the rural dwellers, while the effect of the husbands’
education on empowerment is weak among these categories. Therefore, a new
societal culture must be created through educational curricula, female
illiteracy and dropping out of education stages must be reduced, and poverty
must be mitigated through an integrated system targeted for small projects and
supported by all facilities.