The Relationship Between Marital Satisfaction and Women's Empowerment in Reproductive Decisions in Iran

Objectives: Biological alterations throughout the lives of women make them highly vulnerable compared to men. Thus, being empowered to make better reproductive decisions is an important and valuable aspect of women’s lives. One of the Millennium Development Goals was women’s empowerment. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between marital satisfaction and women’s empowerment in progenitive decision-making. Materials and Methods: This explanatory correlational study was conducted on 400 women who had referred to medical centers associated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using a questionnaire encompassing the participants’ demographic information, the indices of marital satisfaction and women’s empowerment in reproductive decisions. The gathered data were evaluated via the SPSS software version 21.0. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between female marital satisfaction and relevant reproductive empowerment (r = 0.34; P < 0.05). Based on the results, the participants also showed an average level of progenitive empowerment. Conclusions: In general, women’s empowerment and relevant progenitive decision-makings are defined in relation to their marital satisfaction; hence both fields require undivided attention.