Investigating Men's Pronatalism in Selected Provinces in the Philippines

This study explores currently married males’ pronatalism in selected municipalities in the poorest provinces in the Philippines. Pronatalism is defined as a view or value that is supportive of procreation and is therefore against limiting reproduction. Using the Individual Man’s data of the 2006 UNFPA 6th Country Programme Baseline Survey, the study combined the responses of currently married males for the desired number of children, approval of family planning, and contraceptive use to come up with a single measure of the index of pronatalism. Those who score highest in the index are those who desire six or more children, who disapprove of FP, and who have never used any FP method, and are hence considered the most pronatalist.

The study did an analysis of variance and linear regression to determine which among the various characteristics of males (age, education, occupation, religion, and ethnicity) gain high scores in pronatalism. Results of the study show that the level of pronatalism increases with increasing years of age. Pronatalism is lower among males with higher education and among respondents who are working and whose wives/partners are also working. Compared to Catholics and adherents of other religions, Muslim males have higher levels of pronatalism. Moreover, a substantial variation in pronatalism is seen among various ethnic groups in the sample. To sum, those who scored high in the index of pronatalism come from males who are older, least educated, employed but whose partner is unemployed, of Muslim religion, and members of Jama Mapuns, Samals, Tausugs, or Maranaos. Such findings are important in understanding male fertility, particularly their orientation towards large families, as male partners are also known to influence women’s fertility preferences.Since the data is limited to selected municipalities in selected provinces, the results generated from this research do not represent the total population of currently married males in the Philippines.