1999/03/01 by Ayaga A. Bawah, Patricia Akweongo, Ruth Simmons +1 · 282 citations
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health #Demography #Developing country #Economic growth #Economics #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Family planning #Gender relations #Gender studies #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Political science #Population #Psychology #Research methodology #Sociology
paper · open access · doi:10.1111/j.1728-4465.1999.00054.x
published in Studies in Family Planning 30(1), 54-66 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 1999/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
The Navrongo experiment, a family planning and health project in northern Ghana, has demonstrated that an appropriately designed, community-based family planning program can produce a change in contraceptive practice that had been considered unattainable in such a setting. Simultaneously, however, evidence suggests that newly introduced family planning services and contraceptive availability can activate tension in gender relations. In this society, where payment of bridewealth signifies a woman's requirement to bear children, there are deeply ingrained expectations about women's reproductive obligations. Physical abuse and reprisals from the extended family pose substantial threats to women; men are anxious that women who practice contraception might be unfaithful. Data from focus-group discussions with men and women are examined in this report and highlight the strains on gender relations resulting from contraceptive use. The measures taken to address this problem and methods of minimizing the risk of adverse social consequences are discussed.