Context: Although over half of married South African women of reproductive age (15-49
years) use a method of fertility control, 15 percent of them have an unmet need for family
planning. Women’s unmet need for family planning is often attributed to traditional norms
ascribing decision-making power to men. However, rural-urban migration, exposure to
western style education; constitutional guarantee of gender equity and exposure to
outside influences via the internet and mass media make such an assumption untenable
in contemporary society.
Method: Using logistic regression, eight models are separately fitted for the independent
variables related to the background and socio-economic characteristics of the woman;
the characteristics of the husband; their comparative characteristics; sexual and
reproductive factors; sources of information and communication; reproductive as well as
HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes. The final model, using backward stepwise analysis,
estimates the effects of the factors associated with a joint or a male vs. a female pattern
of dominance in decision-making about using fertility control.
Results: The final model shows that joint decision-making is positively correlated with
fifth or higher birth order, being raised in a town, living in a household in the middle
wealth quintile, having between four and five children; using fertility control to limit births
getting a lot of information about HIV/AIDS from the husband, spousal discussions about
family planning and not knowing whether good nutrition stops HIV transmission. Male
dominance is positively associated with having only one union, having the same amount
of education as the husband or not knowing how much education he has, spousal
communication about family planning, first marriage occurring 5-19 years ago, not
knowing if the condom was used at last intercourse, knowing that condoms are used for
family planning only, not getting information about family planning from posters and
irregular exposure to the radio.
Conclusions: In the era of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and emphasis on the reproductive
health approach in family planning, there is a need for studies, at the local level, that
include both individuals in the relationship. Qualitative studies focusing on the nature,
context and content of couple communication about sexuality and reproduction can
provide important information about gender relationships in the South African context.
There is also a need to understand the effect of gender and community norms on sexual
and reproductive decision-making. Studies on HIV discordant couples can provide
important information on the impact of the epidemic on sexual and reproductive decisionmaking.
Studies focusing on family formation can provide information on the impact of
social change on intergenerational and gender relationships as well as trends in
reproductive attitudes and behaviours in transitional South African society
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4796 |
| Date | 13 May 2008 |
| Creators | Glover-Walton, Christine A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1240043 bytes, 12501 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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