Contraceptive Use and Intention Among Educationally Marginalized Women in the Philippines: Evidence from a National Survey

Abstract

Educationally marginalized women have lower prevalence of contraceptive use in many studies. However, in the Philippines, contraceptive are almost similar across education level By applying descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression on nationally representative data, this study examines the profile of less educated women, variation in their contraceptive use and intention, and its predictors. Results reveal the differences on the distribution of educationally marginalized women in the country. Variation in contraceptive use and intention across socioeconomic and demographic factors is observed. Multinomial regression reveals that intention to use contraceptives are more likely among employed, with three or more children, internet users, poor households, and Catholic women, while older are less likely. Increased likelihood of using traditional contraceptives are associated with migrants, older, married, with three or more children, internet users, rich and richest households, and Catholic women, while living in a female headed household is associated with lower likelihood of traditional contraceptive use. Meanwhile, employed, migrants, older, with fertility desire, married, with three or more children, internet users, and Catholic women are more likely to use modern methods, while those who perceive their health as good, belong to the rich and richest households, and living in a female households are less likely.The findings show that non-users with intent, traditional users, and modern users have unique needs. Targeted family planning strategies that expand access to modern methods, particularly for younger, poorer, and unmarried women, and address cultural and informational barriers sustaining traditional method reliance are recommended.