Women's Agency and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)

This study measures agency among married and unmarried young women in two disparate states of India namely Tamil Nadu and Bihar. It is also analyses the association of agency and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) young women. The study utilizes data from “Youth in India: Situation and Needs, 2006-2007”survey. Bivariate and Multivariate techniques are used to understand the differentials, and factors associated with agency and Sexual and reproductive health. The Principal Component Analysis is used to compute the agency based on three indices namely decision making, freedom of movement, and self efficacy. The multinomial logistic regression is used to understand the factor associated with sexual and reproductive health knowledge. Higher Educated and economically better off women, more exposed to mass media, living in urban area have higher agency for both married and unmarried women. Findings reveals that women having higher agency are found to have higher odds of better knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health.