ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2017
Composite measures of women's empowerment and their association with maternal mortality in low-income countries.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community engagement processes in low- and middle-income countries health research settings: a systematic review of the literature.BMC health services research · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review of individual and ecological determinants of maternal mortality in the world based on the income level of countries.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Women's empowerment measurements in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic literature review.Women's health (London, England)Pooled it
- A One Health Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (OH GESI) Framework to strengthen equity goals of One Health implementation tools.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Nexus between sociocultural practices and maternal mortality in Pakistan: a geospatial analysis using Spatial Durbin model and multiscale geographically weighted regression.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Association between self-reported gender-based discrimination and maternal mortality rates: results of an ecological multi-level analysis across nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Sources of knowledge empowerment amongst pregnant women with TB disease: A qualitative study in South Africa.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Article
- Trends, Projections, and Regional Disparities of Maternal Mortality in Africa (1990-2030): An ARIMA Forecasting Approach.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Pelvic Floor Morbidity Following Vaginal Delivery versus Cesarean Delivery: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Women's empowerment and elective cesarean section for a single pregnancy: a population-based and multivariate study in Vietnam.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Article
- Gender Equity and Vertically Transmitted Infections: A Country-Level Analysis Across 153 Countries.Health equity · 2021Article
- Gender parity at scale: Examining correlations of country-level female participation in education and work with measures of men's and women's survival.EClinicalMedicine · 2020Article
- We all progress through progress towards gender equality.EClinicalMedicine · 2020Article
- How are the domains of women's inclusion, justice, and security associated with maternal and infant mortality across countries? Insights from the Women, Peace, and Security Index.SSM - population health · 2019Article
- Understanding the determinants of maternal mortality: An observational study using the Indonesian Population Census.PloS one · 2019Observational
- Women's empowerment related to pregnancy and childbirth: introduction to special issue.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundMaternal mortality has declined significantly since 1990. While better access to emergency obstetrical care is partially responsible, women's empowerment might also be a contributing factor. Gender equality composite measures generally include various dimensions of women's advancement, including educational parity, formal employment, and political participation. In this paper, we compare several composite measures to assess which, if any, are associated with maternal mortality ratios (MMRs) in low-income countries, after controlling for other macro-level and direct determinants.
methodsUsing data from 44 low-income countries (half in Africa), we assessed the correlation of three composite measures - the Gender Gap Index, the Gender Equity Index (GEI), and the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) - with MMRs. We also examined two recognized contributors to reduce maternal mortality (skilled birth attendance (SBA) and total fertility rate (TFR)) as well as several economic and political variables (such as the Corruption Index) to see which tracked most closely with MMRs. We examined the countries altogether, and disaggregated by region. We then performed multivariate analysis to determine which measures were predictive.
resultsTwo gender measures (GEI and SIGI) and GDP per capita were significantly correlated with MMRs for all countries. For African countries, the SIGI, TFR, and Corruption Index were significant, whereas the GEI, SBA, and TFR were significant in non-African countries. After controlling for all measures, SBA emerged as a predictor of log MMR for non-African countries (β = -0.04, P = 0.01). However, for African countries, only the Corruption Index was a predictor (β = -0.04, P = 0.04). No gender measure was significant.
conclusionsIn African countries, corruption is undermining the quality of maternal care, the availability of critical drugs and equipment, and pregnant women's motivation to deliver in a hospital setting. Improving gender equality and SBA rates is unlikely to reduce MMR in Africa unless corruption is addressed. In other regions, increasing SBA rates can be expected to lower MMRs.
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