Men’s Involvement during Pregnancy and Childbirth: Evidence from Rural Ahmadnagar, India

Abstract

Interventions that include men during pregnancy and childbirth have shown to yield positive health benefits to women and their children. Most previous studies in India examined male involvement during pregnancy and childbirth using qualitative data. In order to gain a quantitative insight on the subject, primary data collected from men aged 15–54 from rural Ahmadnagar in India is used to examine men’s involvement during pregnancy and child birth. The indicators of men’s involvement are designed to measure presence of men during antenatal visits and child birth, type of assistance provided during pregnancy, and men’s involvement in deciding the place of delivery and the person to conduct the delivery. This study, for the first time, uses a measure of social network and gender role attitudes in explaining men’s involvement during pregnancy and child birth in India. The results reveal that a substantial proportion of men are involved during pregnancy and child birth in rural Ahmadnagar. Gender role attitudes and social network are important predictors of men’s involvement during pregnancy and child birth.