Male involvement in family planning: A KABP study of Agra District, Uttar Pradesh

Although lack of male involvement in family planning has been a topic of research and discussion since the early 1980s, during the last five years it has become an important issue for women advocates, researchers, and many international agencies that are committed to reproductive health and gender equality. The large number of articles on this subject and growing number of conferences, research projects, and debates are testimonies to the importance of the issue, both from the programmatic point of view and as a process for bringing about a gender balance in men's and women's reproductive rights and responsibility. This paper addresses the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices of rural males toward various aspects of family formation including reproduction and contraceptive use. The study was undertaken in the rural areas of Agra district, in Uttar Pradesh. To assess the knowledge and attitudes of males, 517 currently married males were interviewed. Out of those interviewed, 317 of their wives were also interviewed. The two sets of data provide an opportunity to compare the attitudes of males and females on issues related to family formation.