By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN - A survey released on Sunday revealed that although over 90 per cent of married men and women believe smaller families lead to a better quality of life, only some 50 per cent adhere to the practice.
Family planning experts on Sunday said social factors such as gender preferences and the belief that large families lead to long-term security are behind this discrepancy.
In a meeting to review family planning efforts in the Kingdom, the Higher Population Council (HPC) and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health noted that despite ongoing campaigns promoting the benefits of having smaller families, the fertility trend has not changed.
“Although many couples are quite content with only having two children, the fertility rate has not changed over recent years,” said Bushra Jabre, senior communication adviser from the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“Families still tend to lean towards having four children,” she added.
According to a midterm survey by the Health Communication Partnership for Family Health Programme (CPFH)/Johns Hopkins University, some 94 per cent of married women and 90 per cent of married men believe having smaller families leads to a better quality of life.
That view is shared by 90 per cent of young men and 91 per cent of young females, according to the study.
The percentage of those who would adhere to having a family of two children, however, was considerably lower, with 44 per cent of married women and 50 per cent of married men.
When comparing couples’ preferred number of children over the past three years, the study showed married women back in 2005 desired to have 4.3 children compared to 4.1 children in 2008. For married men, the number also decreased slightly, from 4.2 children in 2005 to 4.1 this year.
Unmarried women respondents reportedly desired to have 3.5 children, up from 3.3 children in 2005, while young unmarried men wanted less children, from 3.7 children in 2005 to 3.4 currently.
The study showed that regardless of educational background, married women continue to prefer having boys over girls. The study showed that for uneducated women, the ideal number of boys would be 2.2 compared to 1.9 girls while those with a higher degree preferred 2.1 boys compared to 1.7 girls.
Gender preference has an impact on contraceptive use, according to the study, which showed families with more boys are more likely to use contraceptives.
The survey also revealed that 44 per cent of couples who use contraceptives abandon the practice after 12 months.
Social norms affecting family planning efforts
Experts said social norms are steering such trends.
“It appears that sometimes women have an ideal vision of what they want but then that reality changes once they face life in the real world,” said HPC Director Raeda Qutob.
“There are many factors and influences at play, which include social norms that consider large families as a form of future security and the gender preference for boys,” she added.
“It is an issue that can be addressed through proper messages, spousal dialogue and ongoing awareness, improved counselling by health service providers and education of women,” she added.
According to Qutob, education and women’s empowerment remain a key to changing society’s views of women primarily as caregivers.
“Seeing women joining the workforce and contributing to the economy and their own families is a powerful tool in showing their true value,” Qutob said.
“Families will steadily come to see that girls equal the value that is so often placed on boys,” she added.
The HPC yesterday also highlighted the Mabrouk Initiative, which is designed to guide engaged and newlyweds on reproductive health and family planning issues.
The programme tackles issues affecting couples in different stages of their life from the engagement and marriage stage, to pregnancy, birth and self-care, breastfeeding and family planning.
The Mabrouk Initiative falls under the national campaign for family planning “Hayati Ahla”, and works in partnership with the Civil Status and Passports Department (CSPD), the Ministry of Health with the technical support of the CPFH programme funded by the USAID.
Under the Mabrouk Initiative, the package will be distributed to engaged and newlywed couples when handed their family book from the CSPD. CSPD Director Issam Shawaqfeh yesterday said that some 66,000 Mabrouk packages will be distributed between July and the summer of 2009 from across their 75 offices across the Kingdom.
