A descriptive study on married women�s decision making power and use of contraceptive methods

Surekha Ranjan

Volume : V, Issue : VII, July - 2016

A descriptive study on married women�s decision making power and use of contraceptive methods

Surekha Ranjan

Abstract :

Introduction : It is generally believed that women lacks decision-making power related to use of contraceptives which restricts its usage. Aims and Objective : The particular study examines women�s role and identify different social factors which affects the use of contraceptive methods among married women in a metropolitan city of India.Methodology: A cross - sectional study was conducted in Aug 2012 among 200 married women who were using either of the type of temporary contraceptive methods based on pretested and validated questionnaire in a urban slum of a metropolitan city of India. The samples were selected by multistage random sampling. The socio-demographic parameters like age, education status of women, employment status of women, no of children in family, socio economic status, son preference , no of years of marriage, age at first child birth, gender of living children, husbands education status, husband employment status were assessed to identify the autonomy of women in taking decisions related to use of temporary contraceptive methods.Results: The study revealed that out of 200 women 81.5% (163) were using some type of temporary contraceptive method and 37 are not using any contraceptives. It was found that 81.5 of the women felt that decision related to use of contraceptive method should be taken by both husband and wife where else only 1.5 percent had an opinion that it should be exclusive decided by the women. Conclusions: Modern family planning interventions in the area should be promoted by considering empowering of women on modern contraceptive use decision making