Married women’s access to resources and decision making power in Nekemte Town, West Ethiopia

Background: Gender equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex are fundamental human rights. Studies in this respect are scarce in Ethiopia in general and study area in particular. Hence, this study was aimed at assessing married women’s access to resources and decision making power and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional community based household survey supplemented by qualitative study was conducted from April 1-30, 2012. A sample of 845 married women was randomly selected from six sub cities of the town by using a multistage sampling technique. Three focus group discussions were conducted to complement the quantitative data. Data was entered and analyzed using IBM SPSS statistical software 20. Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Results: Sixty three percent of the respondents reported that they had net access to resources. Access to resources was significantly associated with the predictor variables such as age (AOR, 2.14; 95% CI: 1.33 to 4.12), access to media (AOR, 0.70; 95% CI: 0.007 to 0.714), educational status, (AOR, 0.36; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.67), income (AOR, 2.14; 95% CI: 1.24 to 3.72), and duration in marriage (AOR, 2.87; 95% CI: 1.22 to 6.75). Also, 64.3% had net decision making power. Decision making power was significantly associated with access to media (AOR, 0.32; 95% CI: 0.17 to 0.60), occupational status (AOR, 0.20; 95% CI: 0.10 to 0.42), duration of marriage (AOR, 0.39; 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.84) and number of children (AOR, 3.10; 95% CI: 1.65 to 5.80). Conclusion: A significant proportion of the respondents had no access to resources and decision making power that needs an urgent attention at all levels of societal hierarchy including policymakers, stakeholders and professionals to enhance women’s access to resources and decision making power.