Couples’ Fertility and Contraceptive Decision-Making In Developing Countries: Hearing the Man’s Voice

number of a couple’s births. In some countries or among some social groups, the male partner has greater influence than his spouse.4 In Ghana, the wife’s attitude toward contraception is strongly influenced by her husband’s attitudes and background characteristics, especially education, but the husband’s views are not similarly influenced by his wife.5 On the other hand, the perception that men will necessarily have more influence on reproductive decisions because they typically control the family’s assets, are accepted as the household head and are older may be an exaggeration. The actual situation is likely to depend on other factors and to vary over time and by location. For instance, among the Yoruba of Nigeria, the fertility desires of both marriage partners are important predictors of the couple’s fertility. However, whereas the husband’s desire is dominant in predicting the couple’s behavior when the number of living children is small, the wife’s desire becomes more important as the number of children grows.6 In Taiwan, when spouses disagree over whether to have another child, the wife tends to prevail.7 Efforts to promote family planning in developing countries have often been critAkinrinola Bankole is senior research associate and Susheela Singh is director of research, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York. The authors thank Thu Vu, Yvette Cuca, Taylor Haas and Linda Appel for research assistance and Jacob Adetunji, Jacqueline E. Darroch, Bolaji Fapohunda, Charles F. Westoff and Deirdre Wulf for commenting on drafts of this article. This research was supported by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts/Global Stewardship Initiative. Couples’ Fertility and Contraceptive Decision-Making In Developing Countries: Hearing the Man’s Voice