UNASSIGNED: Women\'s empowerment and autonomy have been proven to promote women\'s use of modern contraceptives. This study examined women\'s autonomy as a potential factor for modern contraceptive use among Ghanaian women in a union.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The main outcome measure was current modern contraceptive use from women\'s self-report. Three composite indices were used to assess women\'s autonomy: household decision-making, attitudes towards wife-beating, and property ownership.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 4772 non-pregnant women aged 15-49 years in a union were included in the analysis. The mean age was 34.2(±7.97) years, 53.6% received at least secondary education, 87.7% were employed, and 76.5% received family planning information within the last 12 months. The prevalence of modern contraceptive use was 24.8% (95% CI: 22.9-26.7). Women\'s autonomy was independently associated with modern contraceptive use. Compared with women with low autonomy, women with moderate (AOR= 1.26, 95% CI: 1.02-1.55, p = 0.034) and high autonomy (AOR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.01-1.79, p = 0.044) had increased odds of modern contraceptive use. Maternal age, education, number of living children, employment, region, and exposure to family planning information were also strongly associated with modern contraceptive use.
UNASSIGNED: The findings from this study support the assertion that women\'s autonomy may be vital in promoting the use of modern contraceptives among women in a union in Ghana and other low-income and middle-income countries and should be considered in family planning programs.

Women\'s land ownership plays a noteworthy role in improving various development indicators, including her own wellbeing and children\'s food and nutrition security. However, the literature linking women\'s access to land rights to the nutritional security of children in Pakistan is limited, even though it is a country facing enormous challenges of childhood malnutrition and gender discrimination. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the benefits of empowering women by studying the association and pathways between women\'s land rights and child nutrition, using the 2012-2013 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey. The ordinary least squares (OLS) regression results indicate that women\'s individual land ownership and women\'s autonomy in large-scale family purchases have a positive impact on children\'s food and nutrition security (FNS). The results of quantile regression (QR) show that these effects are more pronounced in cases of children with severe stunted growth. In addition, a structural equation model shows that the positive relationship between women\'s land ownership and child nutrition is partially mediated by women\'s increased decision-making power in large-scale household purchases. Our research concludes that ensuring women\'s land rights can improve women\'s autonomy, which can be an effective policy tool that not only improves women\'s welfare but also improves their children\'s nutritional security.