Abstract
The ICPD has highlighted that women’s empowerment and autonomy are essential for the achievement of sustainable development. However, women in Burkina Faso possess very little control over their lives, particularly in the matters of reproductive rights. The reasons are both the patriarchal culture in Burkina Faso and, more importantly, women’s lower social status caused by their limited mobility and access to resources, such as job opportunities, health care facilities, and social interactions. Hence, we aim to conceptualize women’s reproductive autonomy using PMA data, and explore how different domains of reproductive autonomy (when to have child, decide to switch family planning method, and when to have sex) are restricted by women’s mobility. We also examine the effects of spatial displacements of sample clusters and evaluate different measures of robustness of models. We find that mobility, especially road connectivity, has a more significantly positive association with women’s reproductive autonomy in rural areas.
Yaxuan (Sean) Zhang
PhD Candidate at UMN | MGIS Student | Computer Science Minor
My research interests include geospatial data science, transportation planning, and GeoAI.