Factors Influencing The Attitude Of Women Towards Family Planning In Nigeria
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Factors Influencing The Attitude Of Women Towards Family Planning In Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The goal of this research is to identify the elements that influence women’s views towards family planning in the Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. The study specifically seeks to determine the influence of education, health, religion, culture, women’s age, and money on their attitudes towards family planning.
This research focusses on the various types of contraceptive methods, the significance of family planning, and the advantages of family planning. Subjects were chosen using basic random sampling.
A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed to members of the target group, who were educated women randomly selected from five settlements in Egor Local Government: Uselu, Uwasota, Osasogie, Evbareke, and Osakpamwan. The acquired data were analysed using the percentage approach, and the results revealed that:
1. Women recognise the need of family planning for their families.
2. Family planning allows couples to plan their family for a better standard of life.
Recommendations were made based on findings from the data analysed, which include the following:
1. Enlightenment campaigns should be implemented to educate individuals about the importance of family planning.
2. To encourage more people to use family planning, incentives should be provided to couples who do so.
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Family planning, as the name implies, is having children by choice rather than by accident; it is the practice of having a certain number of children at intervals acceptable to individuals or couples in order to promote family health and welfare.
Family planning is not a new concept in the world, and it also applies to the Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Individuals and families have attempted to regulate their fertility throughout history by utilising medicines, abstaining during ovulation, breastfeeding for an extended period of time, and living with in-laws to avoid sex or polygamy.
Historically, most communities had policies that encouraged a big population. Traditionally, Africa’s low level of economic development and emphasis on agriculture have resulted in various variables that promote high fertility.
Furthermore, according to Namboze J.M.E. (1985), religious and cultural traditions promote big families since children are expected to financially support their parents and to secure a form of family immortality through the continuation of the family name.
African women have long played significant roles in agricultural production, albeit their primary roles are those of wives and mothers, with restricted rights as subordinates to males in the home.
The practice of polygamy further erodes women’s standing because they have restricted opportunities. At the societal level, having children is a significant means for them to earn prestige based on the number of children they raise.
Children are also required for farm labour and potential old age security, which they provide in later life, particularly for their mothers, because women are frequently denied inheritance rights or forfeit the right to use land upon the death of their husbands; and they require children, particularly sons, to ensure that someone cares for them in their old age.
Furthermore, a man’s health and integrity are frequently assessed by the number of wives and children he has, and because the African religion was widely followed, it was assumed that ancestors would reincarnate as descendents through childbirth.
Women have realised that cooking and housework, combined with earning a money, bearing and raising children, are exhausting responsibilities that eventually deteriorate the health of both mother and children.
Many parents today recognise that having a large family can make it difficult to feed, clothe, and educate them all properly. In 1956, a group of Lagos elites introduced family planning in response to the rising number of abandoned infants caused by adolescent pregnancy, criminal abortions, and death.
This group of elites founded the marital guidance counsellors, who later collaborated with the international Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN).
Dr. Adeyemi Jones established Ibadan’s first family planning clinic in 1958, but it did not endure long due to a lack of funding. The Family Planning Council of Nigeria was established in 1959, and it eventually evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN).
Since the prevalence of childbearing has steadily led to population expansion, many individuals and organisations have objected and stated that parents should reduce their family size, making family planning a moral, social, and political issue.
Such organisations include the International Planned Parenthood Association, the Pathfinder Fund, the International Training for Health Programme, and the World Health Organisation, among others.
Some leaders have addressed the importance of family planning in a variety of ways. According to Delano (1990), quoting Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere in 1959, “giving birth is something in which people and animals are equal, but nurturing the young, particularly educating them for many years, is something which is a unique gift and obligation of man.
It is for this reason that it is critical for men to prioritise child care and the ability to adequately care for them over the number or gender of children.” Historically, despite the fact that our forebears believed in large families, birth control procedures were also used.
This expressed itself in the form of sex taboos (frowning at pre-marital intercourse), abstinence, the wearing of magical charms and talismans crafted from the lions’ worm, and even the usage of a child’s tooth or a cat’s liver to protect against unexpected pregnancies and subsequent abortion.
Davis (1992) also backed the above strategy, stating that our forebears recognised the importance of child spacing through traditional means that were appropriate for their circumstances at the time.
According to Delano (1990), while researching the encyclopaedia, the oldest known family planning theories are found in the ancient Egyptian Petri papyrus, written about 1850 BC, and the Ebers papyrus, written around 1550 BC, which describes certain techniques of contraception. Fertility regulations sparked widespread alarm, including in Greece and Rome.
Ancient knowledge was absorbed into the writings of scientific doctors and served as the scientific basis for contraception until the late 17th century. It should be emphasised that contraception was used in the past to protect the health of both the child and the mother.
However, when compared to modern contraceptives, several of these traditional treatments appear unusual in their preparation and use. Modern methods of birth control arose as a result of extensive study in an effort to reduce difficulties, produce effective and non-injurious, convenient, reliable, pleasurable, easily available, and capable of meeting the needs of people and couples.
On this day, renowned birth workers like as Jeremy Bentheam of England and Margaret Sawyer of the United States are recognised and commemorated for advocating the cause of birth control in various countries and at different points in history.
In this study, therefore, attempts shall be made to find out what women in the Egor Community understand about the concept of family planning, methods of contraception commonly practised
specifically the effect of education, income, religion, culture, age, and health as they influence the attitude of women towards family planning; dealing extensively with the importance and benefits of family planning.
Statement of the Problem
Various individuals, national and international organisations such as the World Health Organisation, the Population Reference Bureau, and others have expressed concern about the consequences of population growth and have also urged that couples reduce their family size.
Depreciating living standards and inadequate facilities as population demands rise are among the concerns plaguing our society. Based on the observations, this study attempts to investigate the elements that influence women’s attitudes on family planning.
Purpose of Study
The goal of this study is to conduct a survey on the impact of education, age, culture, religion, income, and health on women’s attitudes on family planning.
Research Questions
When dealing with this research issue, different challenges were found, and research questions were developed. They are:
1. Does education alter women’s attitudes on family planning?
2. How does women’s health influence their attitudes towards family planning?
3. Does culture influence women’s attitudes on family planning?
4. Does income alter women’s attitudes towards family planning?
5. Does women’s age influence their attitudes towards family planning?
6. Does religion alter women’s attitudes regarding family planning?
Significance of the Study
This research will benefit women and society as a whole. They will learn a lot from the facts presented in this project effort. This research is expected to contribute to the growth, development, expansion, and awareness of family planning and its role in society as a whole.
To propose recommendations to alleviate the observed misconceptions that influence family planning practice.
Limitation of the Study
This survey only includes women from Edo State’s Egor Local Government Area. It is not intended to evaluate the efficacy of family planning, but rather to determine what influences women’s attitudes about family planning. It does not cover treatment for adverse effects or method failure.
Definition of Terms:
Family planning refers to an individual’s or couple’s ability to predict and achieve the desired number of children, as well as the spacing and timing of their birth.
Contraception is the method and practice of preventing conception by fertilising an ovum.
Menstruation is the monthly evacuation of the blood-filled uterine (womb) lining, which takes approximately four to five days depending on individual physiology.
Ovulation is the discharge of ripe egg cells from the ovary approximately once a month.
Vasectomy is the surgical removal of the vascle ferens, which allows sperms to reach the penis and avoid ejaculation.
Tubalization is the cutting of the female fallopian tube so that egg cells do not enter the uterus.
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