The Role of Education and Employment in Shaping Modern Contraceptive Practices among Married Women in Pakistan: A Focus on Employed vs. Unemployed Females

Introduction: This study examines the relationship between women's employment, education, and contraception use in Pakistan, a country with high rates of maternal mortality and population growth. The study emphasizes the need of providing women with economic and educational opportunities to improve family planning outcomes and reduce maternal mortality, poverty, and population growth. Methodology: The study used data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS 2017-2018). Three approaches were used in our study: Descriptive analysis was done to summarize sociodemographic characteristics and Chi square test and Logistic Regression was done to measure relationship between modern contraceptive usage and employment status of educated women, with the P values less than 0.05. Results: The results show that the use of contraceptives is highly influenced by age and geographic factors. Significantly, older age groups have a higher probability of utilizing contraceptives. The significant Chi-Square value indicates that among educated married women in Pakistan, work position has a considerable impact on the chance of adopting modern contraceptive methods. There was no significant variation in the utilization of contraceptives between educated women with employment and educated women without employment. Conclusion: Women's autonomy and contraceptive use were highly connected; our findings revealed a statistically significant difference in contraceptive usage between educated women who were employed and those who were not. In order to enhance maternal health outcomes, family planning behavior and advocates for policies that support women's autonomy and education. Keywords: women empowerment, contraception, PDHS, education, women