Readiness, willingness and ability to use contraception in Bangladesh

Haider R. Mannan, University of Western Australia
Roderic Beaujot, University of Western Ontario

This study attempted to measure Coale’s three preconditions of fertility decline-ready, willing, and able-and examine their impacts on fertility regulating behaviour of women in view of the rapid fertility decline in Bangladesh. With the exception of women without living children, most women want to control their reproduction. For most women fertility regulation is considered acceptable on normative and health related grounds, while family planning methods are available, accessible, and convenient in terms of costs. Thus, the study did not support the hypothesis that fertility transition has occurred in Bangladesh without changes in socioeconomic and cultural circumstances and solely due to greater availability and accessibility to modern contraceptive methods. Logistic regression analysis indicated that regardless of controlling for the background variables women who are ready, willing and able are significantly more likely to use contraception. The latter variables are often acting as intervening variables between the background variables and contraceptive use.