Participation of males in decision making as an index of their perceived involvement in reproductive and child health in Tamil Nadu, India

Ravi Sankar, Annamalai University

Objectives: to assess the varying levels of participation of men and women in family decision making and its impact. An attempt was also made to examine the relationship between the SED backgrounds and the decision making between the spouses. METHODS: The data were drawn from NFHS II RESULTS: The findings revealed that 46.69 percent of the spouses had equal participation in decision making. Equal participation of wife and husband in decision making was responsible for high contraceptive adoption, better utilization of ante-natal and post-natal care services, more institutional deliveries, low proportion of unwanted pregnancies, safe abortion practice, HIV/AIDS awareness, better knowledge of RTI and favorable behaviour change to seek treatment. In contrast, independent decision of males has not made a greater impact on RCH. The results of logistic regression and path analysis revealed that SED variables have a strong bearing on varying levels of participation of spouses in decision making.