Are status of women and contraceptive prevalence correlated in Pakistan?

Abstract

Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the population trends indicate a continuously increasing growth in population. During this period there has been an addition of over 100 million to the 1947 population of 32.5 million. In mid-2001, an estimated population of 142.5 million and an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent still pose a serious challenge to socioeconomic development both at macro and micro levels. The major contributing factor to the fast growth in population of Pakistan has been high fertility which is mainly due to low contraceptive prevalence in spite of the fact that family planning programmes in public, private, and NGO sectors have been in operation since 1960s. Low status of women, in particular their education and employment, are considered important factors for not achieving widespread use of contraceptive and early reduction in fertility. Using data from the Pakistan Fertility and Family Planning Survey 1996-97, variations in contraceptive use have been examined by women's demographic and socioeconomic factors. It is found that quantitative indicators of the status of women in Pakistan, such as socioeconomic, demographic, and reproductive health, are still low. Contraceptive prevalence is positively correlated with higher socioeconomic status and better reproductive health indicators. Contraceptive prevalence increases with an increase in age, number of living children, in particular sons, women's level of education, and women working as professional employees and living in an urban locality. Hence, combined with provision of reproductive health and family planning services, education of women and their gainful employment are the most important factors requiring serious attention which will not only enhance their social and economic value in the society and household but also significantly increase contraceptive prevalence, which may lead to small family norms.