Publication:

Gender roles and practice of decision making on reproductive behavior among couples of Syangja district, Nepal

Background Reproductive behavior and its decision making practices are generally exercised in one of the three ways – mutual, dominancy of husband or dominancy of wife. Gender norms and roles prevalent in society affect the practice of reproductive decision making among couples. The aim of this study was to identify the practice of decision making on different reproductive behavior among couples and to examine the associated factors of decision making.

Methods Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in four Village Development Committee (VDCs) of Syangja district of Nepal by using structured interview schedule. The couples of reproductive age (15-49 years) having at least children of one year were the study population.

Results Decision making on the use contraceptives and plan for pregnancy was mostly mutual (62.1% and 74.8% respectively). Regarding the birth spacing, majority (42.4%) of couples had made no decision followed by mutual decision (41.4%). While 72.0 % couples had gone through mutual discussion to maintain the family size, 27.7% discussed not at all regarding the concerned matter. Only 37.7% of husbands had provided adequate time for nurturing and caring their children. Association was found between decision maker on pregnancy and times of pregnancy (P<0.05), decision maker on birth spacing and interval between children (P<0.05), and employment status of husband and time provided by husband for nurturing and caring of baby (P<0.05).

Conclusion Mutual decision making on reproductive behavior like pregnancy, birth spacing and family size symbolizes the initiation transformational gender norms and roles in Nepalese rural societies.