Women's status, attitude to gender based violence and fertility behaviour among currently married women in Nigeria

Olufunmilayo Banjo, Obafemi Awolowo University
Olusina Bamiwuye, Obafemi Awolowo University

The effects of women’s status and its components on fertility have been a major concern in gender studies; yet few studies exist on the link between women’s status, attitude to gender based violence and fertility behaviour. We examined the influence of women’s attitude to gender based violence on fertility behavior in Nigeria; and compared fertility behaviour between women of low and high status, using data for currently married women 15-49 from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Women of high status varied significantly from women of low status with respect to their attitudes to gender based violence (p<0.001). Result of the Poisson regression showed that the Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) of fertility, was significantly lower among women of high status than women of low status; (IRR=0.93; Confidence Interval (CI) =0.907-0.960; p<0.001). We conclude that, women’s attitude to gender based violence is a significant predictor of fertility in Nigeria.