Men Bring Condoms, Women Take Pills

Abstract

The most popular form of reversible contraception in the United States is the female-controlled hormonal birth control pill. Consequently, scholars and lay people have typically assumed that women take primary responsibility for contraceptive decision making in relationships. Although many studies have shown that men exert strong influence in couple’s contraceptive decisions in developing countries, very few studies have considered the gendered dynamic of contraceptive decision making in developed societies. This study uses in-depth interviews with 30 American opposite-sex couples to show that contraceptive responsibility in long-term relationships in the United States often conforms to a gendered division of labor, with women primarily in charge. A substantial minority of men in this study were highly committed contraceptors. However, the social framing of contraception as being primarily in women’s “sphere,” and the technological constraints on their participation, made even these men reluctant to discuss contraception with their women partners.

Power and the gendered division of contraceptive use in Western European couples

“…In Western Europe, 58.9 per cent of couples in which the woman is aged 15-49 use the pill, contraceptive injections, implants or intrauterine devices, compared with 2.9 per cent relying on vasectomy, 6.3 per cent on tubal ligation and 7.6 per cent on condom use (United Nations, 2013). However, on the other hand, the observation that also the uptake of female sterilization exceeds that of male sterilizationalthough both are similarly effective and the latter implies lower physical and financial costs (Shih et al, 2011)-indicates that contraceptive choice is not purely a product of availability constraints (Fennell, 2011). It has been suggested that contraception shifts from being an individual's own responsibility and a means to protect him/herself against unintended pregnancy in the beginning of a relationship, toward a shared responsibility that is influenced by broader relationship dynamics in long-term relationships.…”

“…The question can be raised whether contraceptive responsibility should be perceived as a burden or an indication of lower power, versus as a way of holding control or an indication of higher power. Following Fennell (2011) and Bertotti (2013), we apply the theoretical lens of the gendered division of labour to partners' roles in contraceptive decision-making in order to formulate two contrasting hypotheses.…”

“…Recently, some scholars have extended the established observation that women still perform the majority of housework toward the domain of contraception (Bertotti, 2013;Fennell, 2011). Couples' "fertility work", or the division of contraceptive responsibility between partners, also seems to fall primarily on women's shoulders.…”

“…This implies that they will have to find a way to resolve differentials in priorities and perceptions. Elaborating on Bertotti's (2013) and Fennell's (2011) studies, two alternative power perspectives-the relative resource theory and the gender perspectives-are applied. As studies consistently find that higher marital power, or a partner's ability to impose his/her will on the other (Blood and Wolfe, 1960), increases one's say in couples' decisions-making (Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard, 2010;Mannino and Deutsch, 2007), there is also a growing awareness that power within sexual relationships may affect individuals' ability to meet their reproductive goals (Grady et al, 2010).…”

“…Grady et al, 2010;Kusunoki and Upchurch, 2011;Manning et al, 2009;Stolley, 1996), research on the social determinants of contraceptive use has mainly studied the female population, because reproduction and contraception are often framed as a female sphere of influence (Edwards, 1994;Fennell, 2011). Moreover, the majority of studies, also those that have taken men's as well as women's preferences and childbearing desires into account, have limited their attention to individual demographic characteristics, such as the influence of educational attainment or income level on the adoption of certain contraceptive methods (Anderson et al, 2012;Martinez et al, 2006;Moreau et al, 2006;Mosher and Jones, 2010;Oddens et al, 1994aOddens et al, , 1994bSpinelli et al, 2000).…”