Power Relations and Contraceptive Use: Gender Differentials in Bangladesh/ Rapport de Force Et Utilisation de Contraceptif: Differences de Sexe Au Bangladesh (Report‪)‬

1. INTRODUCTION Bangladesh has been known as one of the poorest countries with a high success rate in contraceptive acceptance. The total fertility rate went down from 7.1 in 1964 to 3.0 in 2004. The contraceptive prevalence rate went up from 7.7 to 53.8 percent (3). Most of the credit goes to the family planning program, which was implemented in the country in the 1950s (4). The traditional approach of this program has been to emphasize women as potential clients for adoption of contraceptives. Women's predominance in fertility and contraceptive use has tended to draw attention away from men's role in fertility and family planning5. From the very beginning, the main goal of the Bangladeshi nationwide population control program was to inform women about family planning methods and to distribute contraceptives among women. Men have been ignored by the family planning programs, by the policy makers, and by the researchers in general. The present study attempts to remedy this in part by examining the relationship between power relations at the household level and contraceptive use among men and women in Bangladesh.