Autonomy and (un)met need for family planning among married and cohabiting women in the Philippines

Gender is the social construction of attributes based on the sexes. With this in perspective, dominance is attributed to the masculinity of males; and subordination tends to be for the females. The focus of this study is based on the issue of political subordination in the private sphere of the household. Particularly, the autonomy status and need for family planning is described. This will involve an analysis between women who are cohabiting with their partners and those who are married using the 2008 NDHS.
For both types of unions among women, the variable that influence met need for family planning is education. For married women, it also includes employment and residence. Lack of justification for intimate partner violence has a positive effect whereby it decreases the likelihood of having unmet need. The curious observation is with gaining autonomy in the household; having an increased level of such leads to having unmet need. But among those in consensual union, autonomy is observed to have no effect on this regard.
There is an apparent difference between women who are formally married and those who are cohabiting with their partners; which is a social arrangement that is increasing in prevalence in the country.