Term Paper on "Planned Parenting in the Philippines as it Relates to Gender Equality Gender Rights"

Term Paper 13 pages (4005 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Family Planning

Planned Parenting in the Philippines: Gender Equality and Gender Rights Issues

This study provides an applied anthropological analysis of family planning in the Philippines while assessing the role gender inequities play in family planning preferences. The results of the study suggest that historically family planning in the Philippines has been widely ignored despite increasing interest among women to limit the number of children they have.

While recent initiatives have encouraged more emphasis on modern contraceptive use and methods of pregnancy prevention, recent decentralization of political policy has lead to little motivation for women to seek family planning alternatives and often resorting to abortion as a method of pregnancy prevention. Women seem to be the primary decision-makers when it comes to family planning, although in many cases husbands seem to object based on prenatal beliefs or concerns about the costs associated with family planning. This study also shows that healthcare providers consist largely of women in the Philippines with the exception of doctors, and most of these women often encourage women to engage in safe family planning practice.

Introduction

This paper explores planned parenting in the Philippines as it relates to gender equality rights and cultural preferences, using an anthropological perspective and analysis. The paper will begin by outlining the evolution of family planning perceptions in the Philippines through recent history and define how pervious perceptions have influenced male and female responsibilities regarding planned parenting. The paper explores this subject using an applied anthropology approach, investigating human behavior and the applications it has to contemporary issues, in this case planned parenting. This approach offers a view of human behavior in the Philippines grounded in cultural exploration and actions resulting from such cultural investigation.

Background to Study report provided by the Republic of the Philippines Fertility Survey, part of the World Fertility Survey, find in the 1980s only three of every ten women wanting no children used an efficient method of contraception, and fewer than half exposed to preventive methods reported they would consider using them (WHO, 1981). Women most likely to accept or use contraception included college graduates or those graduating from high school, with up to 68% of college graduates using some form of contraception if pregnancy prevention was sought after (WHO, 1981). Of the survey participants, roughly 1/2 reported affiliation with the Catholic Church, with Muslim followers reporting the least interest in contraceptive methods.

Recent studies confirm that lack of family planning is still a substantive issue in the Philippines, despite women's affirmations and desires to have fewer children (Lakshminarayanan, 2003), as will be exhibited in the historical analysis of family planning presented below.

Evolution of Family Planning Perceptions in the Philippines

To understand the evolution of family planning perceptions in the Philippines one must take an ethnographic approach to exploring the historical culture of planned parenting and gender in the Philippines. Ethnography is description of cultures derived from researcher's observations and analysis of the culture at hand (NPS, n.d.). Ethnography can explain "systems of meaning, ways of organizing society and material culture or body of learned behaviors common to a given human society" (NPS, n.d.). The results of this study show that multiple factors affect family planning including cultural beliefs, political policies and access to education.

Baretto (1974) notes in early 1972 the Bureau of Census statistics working with other agencies interested in International development began sampling family members living in the Philippines to explore their "knowledge, attitudes, and practice," a mini-ethnographic evaluation of the culture and their ideas about family planning (p. 294). This survey focused on sampling households including married women between the ages of 15 and 49 with a total of more than 11,000 households interviewed.

According to Baretto (1974) "large" families are the cultural norm in the Philippines; while there is evidence in Baretto's studies and observations that a trend started in the early 1970s moving away from the concept of a large family, most of the study participants had large families. Based on observations and census reports conducted at the time most households included three of four children, with women surveyed reporting they did not want additional children. Study results from the census bureau as well as results from a 1968 demographic survey of Philippine women suggested in 1968 roughly 39% of women expressed an interest in families with fewer than four children, with that number increasing to almost 66% during 1972 (Baretto, 1974: 294). This suggests an interest among women living in the Philippines to have fewer children.

The study results acquired by Baretto (1974) suggested the move toward smaller family size took hold more fervently in rural than in urban areas. When questioned about family planning, most survey participants (as many as 86%) suggested they were aware of contraception, with most women able to identify at least one measure of protection against pregnancy or tool with which family planning could be supported. Despite this there is little evidence women were motivated to use any method available to them at the time of study. Traditional and natural methods of planned parenting including the rhythm method were most commonly reported as "known" methods of contraception; however a sharp increase in knowledge of preventive measures is indicated between the 1968 and 1972 surveys (Baretto, 1974).

Laidlaw & Stockwell (1980) observed in 1980 that there is positive evidence supporting the review of family planning and an exhibited desire among third world countries including the Philippines to reduce their rate of growth considerably through regulated birth control measures. The surveyors noted at the time of publication roughly 2.5 billion or 58% of the world's population lived in areas of Asia where the statistical rate of population growth reached roughly 1.8% every year (Laidlaw & Stockwell, 1980).In Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines the rate of population growth at the time of review was higher, coming in at 3.3%, higher than in most other Southeast and Middle South Asian countries (Laidlaw & Stockwell, 1980).

In a study published by the World Health Organization task force in 1980 (WFS, 1980) factors influencing women's choice of and use of fertility control methods included their education on contraceptive alternatives, the attitudes of those providing services and a woman's attitudes toward contraception. In this particular study the WHO found that women in the Philippines largely preferred use of the IUD when educated about its benefits, when husbands approved of efforts toward family planning (WFS, 1980).

Gallen (1982) conducted a study of abortions in the Philippines noting that roughly 31% of women using this method of pregnancy termination reported they did not have knowledge of family planning methods before becoming pregnant. The rate of women using contraception following a procedure however, often doubled, as many practitioners worked on providing educational services to clients they worked with. Half of clients receiving an abortion at the time of this study were provided with information and advice about family planning when they sought assistance from a private or community practitioner, while less than 1/3 of women seeking hospitalization for side-effects of self-induced abortion were provided advice on family planning (Gallen, 1982:43).

Overview 1990s and Beyond Only in the years following the 1990s and beyond have countries including the Philippines begun to view family planning and issues like abortion and female or male gender equity in terms of public policy (Crane, 1994; Ginsburg & Rapp, 1992). Despite public policy many countries still resist abortion, as such more nations including Southeast Asia are focusing on increasing female education and providing adequate contraceptive services to reduce unwanted pregnancies and reduce the risk of women attempting illegal abortions at the cost of their lives or health (Crane, 1994). Increasingly during the 1990s international attention was given to the importance of implementing safe and legal policies to fund research on abortion and family planning alternatives for underserved populations in an attempt to help preserve lives and protect women (Crane, 1994). Family planning specialists working in the 1990s and beyond realized that safe abortion services including contraception would contribute to greater maternal and childcare and should be a normal component of family planning education, most notably because "people exercise foresight less efficiently than hindsight" (Crane, 1994, p.250).

Tadiar & Robinson (1996) note that many legal and political obstacles still exist when introducing emergency contraception into developing countries, which largely stems from lack of knowledge and education about the mode of action and the availability of methods. The authors note in the Philippine legal context use of preventive measures is largely accepted especially in cases where fertilization is not proven. Further the author notes that access to the pill and IUD or similar methods of family planning are available through family planning programs in the Philippine's and among public and private hospitals and clinics, as well as pharmacies (Tadiar & Robinson, 1996, p. 76). There are still those who oppose family planning on religious grounds, claiming all methods are "abortifacients" and should be prohibited (Tadiar & Robinson, 1996).

Olenick (2000) in a study of modern Filipino women notes that most… READ MORE

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