Husband’s migration status and contraceptive behaviors of women: evidence from Middle-Ganga Plain of India

Abstract

Background Male out-migration is negatively associated with contraceptive use in developing countries. This study aimed to examine the effect of male out-migration on the contraceptive behaviour of women in the Middle-Ganga Plain (MGP) region. Methods The data has been collected from the Middle-Ganga Plain survey (2018–19), which was conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS). The overall sample size was 1314 wives left behind and 1402 non-migrant wives. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the variables. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS version 25. Result The result shows that female sterilization was the most common method used by both left behind wives (30.9%) and non-migrant wives (34.6%). Most of the left-behind women didn't use contraception because their husbands were away from home (30.86%). The result also shows that left behind wives were less likely to use any methods of contraception than the non-migrant wives. Left behind women were more tended to use the modern methods (OR-0.71, 95%CI = 0.57–0.88) than any traditional methods (OR-0.61, 95% CI = 0.46–0.80). Age, religion, family type, working status, and marital duration were strongly associated with women's contraceptive use. Conclusion These results strengthen the existing literature that explains how migration affects women's health. Therefore, there is an important need to develop and implement comprehensive education programs and policy on contraception use.

Awareness and Attitude of Wives of Laborer Outmigrants Originating from Indian Subcontinent Towards Emergency Contraceptives- A Multi-Country Study

“…Furthermore, our results regarding the primary sources of knowledge about EC are consistent with those of recent studies which also identified friends and family members as significant sources of information (22,23) . However, unlike our findings, past researchers reported a higher reliance on healthcare workers for EC knowledge among their study population, suggesting potential variations in information dissemination strategies across different regions (24) . Regarding EC utilization patterns, the present study corroborates the findings of recent research, which also identified a trend of repeated EC usage among WMM, indicating a need for further investigation into the underlying factors driving this behavior (25) .…”

Unmet Need for Family Planning and Spousal Separation in Nepal: A Spatial and Multilevel Analysis

“…Secondly, at the individual-level, married women separated from their migrant husbands were significantly more likely to experience UMN, consistent with previous studies on the association between spousal separation and UMN in Nepal [4,7,21] and India [8,10]. Also consistent with previous studies, our findings indicated that education level of both women and their husbands were important factors of UMN [11].…”

“…Districts where spousal separation is more common in Nepal may have strong social and community norms restricting women’s access to reproductive health services in absence of their husbands [ 18 ]. Women may experience greater restrictions if they reside with their mothers-in-law who have significant influence in contraceptive use of daughters-in-law in South Asia [ 10 , 32 ]. These findings suggest that UMN among married women in Nepal could be influenced by both individual and district-level social and cultural contexts, which is consistent with the diffusionist view.…”

“…Among numerous factors from women's age, number of previous children, and level of education to gender dynamics, spousal separation was highlighted as an influential factor associated with modern contraceptive use and UMN in countries like Nepal where labor out-migration is prevalent [7][8][9][10][11]. The stagnant progress in increasing uptake of modern contraceptives and reducing UMN in Nepal has been attributed to a high percentage of spousal separation due to male out-migration [4].…”