| Women’s empowerment and tobacco use: an exploratory analysis of integrated demographic and health series data from India 2005 and Uganda 2011 |
| Authors: |
E.S. Goldsmith, and E.H. Boyle |
| Source: |
Annals of Global Health, 82(3): 387–388; DOI: http://doi.org/10.29024/j.aogh.2016.04.632 |
| Topic(s): |
Tobacco use
Women’s empowerment
|
| Country: |
Africa
Uganda
Asia
India
|
| Published: |
AUG 2016 |
| Abstract: |
Background: Empowering women and reducing tobacco use are
both included in the newly proposed Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). Women’s empowerment consists of multiple interrelated
factors, however, and history suggests that these goals could
work against each other. Previous research suggests that, under some circumstances, greater empowerment is associated with greater
tobacco use by women. Using Integrated Demographic and Health
Series (IDHS) survey data, we investigate this relationship in India
2005 and Uganda 2011. We also explore how women’s literacy
impacts the relationship between empowerment and smoking
behavior, hypothesizing that empowerment/tobacco links will be
weaker among literate women.
Methods: We analyze IDHS survey data for cross-sectional
samples of women aged 15-49 in India 2005 (n ¼ 108,455) and
Uganda 2011 (n ¼ 8,665). We employ tabular methods, generalized
linear models and latent class analysis to assess relationships between
tobacco use and indicators of women’s empowerment, including
employment, house or land ownership, household decision-making
power, attitudes opposing domestic violence, and attitudes supporting
sexual autonomy. Using interaction effects, we assess how
literacy moderates the relationships between tobacco use and these
empowerment indicators.
Findings: Our preliminary findings indicate that tobacco use risk is
higher among women with greater household decision-making
power, and among women who disapprove of domestic violence
in various contexts. In some settings, these relationships are stronger
for illiterate women. For both literate and illiterate women, approval
of sexual autonomy associates with lower tobacco use. Our final
results will reveal how different combinations of women’s empowerment
are associated with tobacco use.
Interpretation: Our preliminary findings for India and Uganda
support the hypotheses that some components of women’s empowerment
are associated with greater tobacco use, and that literacy
moderates these associations under some circumstances. These
observational and cross-sectional data analyses can identify associations
but not causality. Our results support the need for future
research on how measureable indicators of women’s empowerment
may interact to affect health-related behaviors and risks, which could
inform programs that enable both empowerment and healthful
behaviors.
Funding: None. |
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