Background and purpose: Empowerment is considered as one of the health efficiency components and is regarded as a personal right. In the Millennium Development Goals there is a particular focus on women's empowerment. women's empowerment and self-esteem and the interconnection between these concepts are highly important and can help in achieving sustainable development. In current study we aimed at investigating the relationship between self-esteem and empowerment of women in reproductive decisions.

Materials and methods: A descriptive-correlation study was carried out in 400 women attending health centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The subjects were recruited using multistage cluster sampling. Three questionnaires were used to collect the data, including socio-demographic characteristics, women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Data analysis was done in SPSS V17 .

Results: Our study showed an average level of women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making. We found a direct correlation between self-esteem and empowerment of women in reproductive decision-making (r=0.34, P< 0.001).

Conclusion: Empowerment of women in general and in family planning domain requires special attention. Self-esteem is associated with women's empowerment in reproductive decision-making.