FERTILITY DESIRES AND PERCEPTIONS OF POWER IN REPRODUCTIVE CONFLICT IN GHANA

Ghanaian fertility decline may not be associated with women’s having greater control over reproduc-tion. Focus groups of young Ghanaian men and women indicate that attitudes supporting men’s domi-nance in fertility decisions characterize even the highly educated. Young women with high fertility desires anticipate being able to stop childbearing when they want to, but they do not expect to be able to continue if their husband wants to stop. Those with low fertility desires do not anticipate being able to stop without husband consent, but they envision support for continuing childbearing. Women’s expected influence appears limited to situations where their fertility desires conform to normative expectations. Women’s power to limit childbearing is greater in low-fertility societies (Beckman 1983). In higher fertility societies, power to limit fertility increases with parity (Bankole 1995; Hollerbach 1980; Ortega, Amuchástegui, and Rivas 1998; Scrimshaw 1978). Unfortunately, neither of these findings addresses whether (or which) women have sufficient reproductive autonomy to meet goals that do not conform to normative social expectations. We explore whether adolescents and young adults in Ghana expect to be able to implement both low and high fertility desires if conflict arises in future unions. Our results give insight into how marriag