Premium
Household Organization, Women's Autonomy, and Contraceptive Behavior in Southern Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Hogan Dennis P.,
Berhanu Betemariam,
Hailemariam Assefa
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
studies in family planning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1728-4465
pISSN - 0039-3665
DOI - 10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.t01-2-.x
Subject(s) - fertility , family planning , autonomy , population , socioeconomics , ethnic group , literacy , developing country , geography , total fertility rate , population control , rural area , demographic transition , educational attainment , demography , population growth , economic growth , sociology , political science , research methodology , economics , anthropology , law
The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia (SNNPR) is home to 11 million people constituting more than 45 language and ethnic groups, most of whom live in extremely poor rural communities. Data for currently married, fecund women aged 15–49 from demographic surveys conducted in the SNNPR in 1990 and 1997 are used to investigate contraceptive knowledge and communication, and the use and future need for family planning services in this population. This study focuses on how these processes are affected by household organization and women's status, and on their implications for population policies and programs. Considerations of the implications of these results for understanding the fertility transition of a highly diverse African population under severe stress are presented. Although household extension and polygamy characterize one‐third of the women sampled, they do not affect the women's contraceptive behavior. Women's literacy and autonomy are, by far, the most significant forces in the movement toward lower fertility in the region.