Conjugal power relations and women's participation in reproductive health decision-making in Nepal | |
| Author | Chapagain, Matrika |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.GD-09-01 |
| Subject(s) | Reproductive health--Decision making--Nepal Women's health services--Nepal |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. GD-09-01 |
| Abstract | General objective of this study was to appraise conjugal power relations and to investigate the impact of such relations on women's participation in reproductive health decision making. Quantitative data was collected through questionnaire survey, administering a set of semi-structured questionnaires to 223 women and their husbands from 197 systematic randomly selected households in two population clusters in eastern Nepal. Additionally, 30 in-depth interviews, eight case studies, six focus group discussions and 16 key-informant interviews supplemented qualitative information. Conjugal power relations among the couples under this study were typically unequal, consistently pertaining to husbands' higher status, domination, power and privilege. A complex wave of quantifiable factors of power and unquantifiable tradition, culture, social value system, habitus, doxa and intra-household gender power relations were found to be operating to maintain and strengthen the unequal relationship all life. Even if the individual status a woman had higher than her husband, hierarchically she was still supposed to have a lower position and power within the family. In spite of an enormous inequality in conjugal power relations, wife-husband joint decision was common for the use of reproductive health care services. The association between the conjugal relationship and women's participation in contraceptive decisions was weaker compared to the association between the conjugal relationship and women's participation in obstetric care decisions. When the health care service involved financial matters, women's individual status specifically income and property was found to playa crucial role in their decision making participation. High cost associated with the use of obstetric care service and the common perception that 'pregnancy related issues are women's private concerns' were major reasons behind high interference from other family members, particularly the mothers-in-law in making obstetric care decisions. Furthermore, men's negligence coupled with negative social attitudes toward their involvement in women's reproductive health matters caused men's involvement in obstetric care decisions to be low. The high rates of women's participation in joint reproductive health decision making might be taken as encouraging. Yet, husbands' domination was evident in directing the women to use contraceptives, choose their types and to terminate their application and in making decisions about seeking obstetric care service |
| Year | 2009 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. GD-09-01 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kusakabe, Kyoko; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sajor, Edsel ;Doneys, Philippe ;Osawa, Mari; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Japan; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009 |