Women Status Contraceptive Use and Fertility in Kenya

The objective of this study was to analyse the status of women, current contraceptive use and relate all these to their fertility. The data used was from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, 1993. Two statistical methods of data analysis were used i.e. cross tabulation and correlation analysis. Chi-square statistic was used to determine the significance of the association between selected demographic, socio-economic and cultural variables and current contraceptive use. Correlation analysis was used to determine the strength of the relation between current contraceptive use and fertility. Fertility was measured by children ever born. The use of chi-square has shown that level of education, age and marital status have a significant relationship with current contraceptive use for both women in the rural and urban areas. However, the relation between religious affiliation and current contraceptive use is only significant for women living in the urban areas. Type of marriage has no significant relationship with current contraceptive use. The study also found that young women living in the rural areas tend to use natural methods of family planning (abstinence and withdrawal) while the relatively young women living in the urban areas tend to use pills and other modern contraceptive methods. A significant proportion (about one fifth) of women who are Catholics use natural method of contraception both in the urban and rural areas. The study recommends that family planning campaigns should be enhanced in the rural areas and young women and husbands should also be targeted. Further, the education of girls should be enhanced for the status of women to be improved. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Statement of the problem 1 1.2 Objectives of the study 2 1.3 Justification of the study 2 1.4 Scope and limitation 3 1.5 Literature review 3 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 6 2.1 Definitions of the status of women 6 2.4 Sources Of Data and Methods of Data Analysis 11 2.4.1 Cross tabulation 12 2.4.2 Correlation analysis 13 CHAPTER THREE: RESULTS OF CROSS TABULATION CORRELATION ANALYSIS 14 3.1 Age 14 3.2 Marital status 16 3.3 Religion 18 3.4 Type of marriage^. 20 3.5 Education Level 21 3.6 Correlation analysis 23 CHAPTER 4: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS 24 4.1 Age and current contraceptive 24 4.2 Marital status and current contraceptive use 24 4.3 Religion and current contraceptive use 25 4.4 Marriage type and contraceptive use 25 4.5 Education level and contraceptive use 25 4.6 Policy implications 26 4.7 Recommendations for further research 27 REFERENCES 28 CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem Although demographers and policy makers have long been interested in the effect on birth rates of such successes as urbanization, industrialization, modernization and elements of economic such as occupation, education and income, little interest has been expressed, to date, on the effect of the status, roles of women and their fertility. Given the difficulty in defining the meaning of the term 'status of women' and to ascertain the various ways in which the status of women may affect fertility especially in the developing world, a lot of research has not been carried out, especially in East Africa, though there has been considerable improvement in the status of women. In Kenya,though knowledge in family planning methods is widespread, there is still variations in contraceptive usage, even though, contraceptive prevalence rose from 7.7. per cent in 1978 to 27 per cent in 1989 and to 33 per cent in 1993 (KDHS). The problem therefore, is that despite improvement in contraceptive knowledge and use in general, there are still widespread differentials, with some areas of high fertility especially Nyanza, Western, Eastern and Coastal provinces having still very low contraceptive prevalence. This study will thus try to ascertain whether there is a relationship between fertility levels and contraceptive usage given the different roles of women and their general status in Kenya.