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The similarity of family planning (FP) indicators from EDHS2014 to that of EDHS2000 is alarming for policymakers and researchers who consider it as an echo of the past and a threat, which the FP programme has to face to prevent its progression. In 2000, the total fertility rate (TFR) was 3.5, the contraceptive prevalence rate was 56.1% and the discontinuation rate was 29.5%. In 2014, these indicators were 3.5, 58.5 and 30.1%, respectively. Although the change in the all method discontinuation rate is not large, it is a result of great changes in the method specific discontinuation rates, which was masked by changes in the contraceptive method mix. This study aims to present a comparison between contraceptive discontinuation rates in 2000, 2008 and 2014, discuss the reasons for discontinuation by methods and background characteristics of women and calculate the impact of eliminating discontinuation for reasons related to method and service provision on fertility.

Single/multiple decrement life tables were applied to the calendar data of the EDHS2008 and EDHS2014, to examine various net rates of contraceptive discontinuation by reasons and the status after discontinuation. The TFR estimated in the absence of method failure and abandonment while in need of births occurred within 24 months after discontinuation using installed Stata command tfr2.

The study estimates the impact of discontinuation on the TFR in 2014 to be an increase of about 20%. The TFR of 3.5 would have been only 2.8 if discontinuation due to method failure and method/service-related reasons were eliminated. Improvement regarding discontinuation behaviour is evident by increased switching, from 43.6 to 54.3% and the drop in the proportion of abandoning use while in need from 56.4 to 45.7%. Differentials suggest that discontinuation is expected to increase among vulnerable groups as desired fertility continues to rise. The increase in the share of “desire to become pregnant” – as a reason for discontinuation is a recent trend observed during the period between EDHS2008 and EDHS2014 and is recognised as a challenge by the national population strategy.

This study confirms that contraceptive discontinuation is an important part of the overall fertility increase observed by EDHS2014. The rising trend of increased desired family size and the shift away from using the intra uterine device may be considered as major challenges facing the FP programme in Egypt.

This paper attempts to investigate through empirical exercise how the chances of female employment opportunities rise in a developing country like India, against the backdrop of changes in institutions that are associated with globalization.

The paper develops a simultaneous equation model through a growth equation, gender equation and globalization equation to identify the factors impacting female labor market opportunities in India, based on annual time series data 1991–2019.

The major results of this study are as follows: (1) It is social globalization that positively impacts gender equality in employment opportunities apart from economic growth and trade diversification; (2) Evidence of “feminization of labor force” in the context of trade diversification is found; and (3) Equal gender opportunities reflect in equalizing outcomes in the labor market.

Growth strategies need to be constructed in such a way in India that it has redistributive implications and benefits women. The state agency needs to optimize the productive base of human resources and increase women's empowering capability through social and legal sanctions.

The uniqueness of the present paper lies in contributing to the existing literature on how gender inequality impacts trade diversification and how trade diversification impacts gender.

This paper explores the relationship between married women's intrahousehold decision-making participation and marital gender roles, next to factors suggested in the household bargaining literature. Additionally, the authors investigate whether women's employment carries the same importance for decision-making participation as contributions to household incomes.

Using 2011/2012 Nicaraguan Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the authors estimate multinomial logistic regressions for eight decision-making domains, analyzing three levels of decision-making: wife-dominant or sole decisions, joint decision-making (with the partner) and decision-making by someone else. The authors create an additive index for measuring internalized marital gender roles.

Women's intrahousehold decision-making participation is explained differently depending on the decision-making area and level of participation. Women with a better relative position vis-à-vis partners and not following patriarchal gender roles are more likely to make decisions jointly with their partners, but not alone. Women's age and educational level are the strongest predictors in the analysis. Women's employment reduces their decision-making participation in children's disciplining and daily cooking-related decisions.

It focuses on married women only, while marital status might be a determinant of decision-making itself and left out the contribution of unearned incomes.

Interventions aimed at increasing women's intrahousehold decision-making participation should not only focus on economic endowments but also comprehend the gendered dynamics governing intrahousehold allocation.

The study incorporates quantitative measures of marital gender roles in the study of intrahousehold decision-making. It also contributes to the literature with insights from contexts where women's involvement in employment increased against a background of patriarchal gender roles.

This study aims to assess the associations of early marriage and spousal age difference (independent of early marriage) with reproductive and sexual health and autonomy in decision-making among married women before conception.

The present study was a part of a three-year community intervention to improve the preconception health of young married women (20–35 years) in the West Delhi district of India. The six key outcomes assessed were: knowledge of reproductive health, discussions related to sexual health, history of anemia, use of contraceptives by women, frequency of consumption of meals per day and the autonomy in decision-making for household expenditures. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were used to explore the associations between the two key predictors (early marriage or spousal age difference), sociodemographic variables and six outcomes. The results were expressed as odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). A total of 2,324 women, enrolled from four wards in the district using cluster-based sampling, were interviewed.

Around 17% of women were married by the exact age of 18, and 20% were elder or just one year younger than their husbands. Women who were married early had low reproductive health knowledge (OR (95% CI): 0.48 (0.38–0.60)) and a lower probability of expressing autonomy (OR (95% CI): 0.78 (0.62–0.97)). However, women older than men or younger by just one year in the married relationship had higher reproductive health knowledge (OR (95% CI): 1.25 (1.01–1.54)) than women younger than men more than two years.

Under the umbrella of the preconception care domain, frontline workers should emphasize counseling girls and young women to marry late and delay the first pregnancy.

Coping and communication strategies affect how one perceives potentially stressful life events, such as infertility. Cognitive behavioral interventions (CBI) can reduce the distress related to undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of CBI on the coping and communication skills as well as perceived stress and depressive symptoms of women undergoing IVF treatment. The authors also explored the relationship between coping strategies and pregnancy rates.

The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial of CBI in 50 women undergoing IVF (NCT00685282).

The authors found that CBI was associated with reductions in active-confrontive coping among over 50 percent of participants, which was also found to be positively related to depressive symptoms. Furthermore, high meaning-based coping at baseline and high-avoidant coping at the end of IVF treatment were associated with increased pregnancy rates.

CBI can be helpful in reducing the perceived stress of women undergoing IVF; however, the adaptiveness of individual coping skills and communication skills vary. Since different coping strategies seem to be of benefit at different time points, further studies might benefit from the examination of engaging in context-dependent coping strategies.

Integrating mental health care on infertility units may assist in reducing the stress and thus quality of care in women undergoing IVF. Mental health care can be tailored to meet the individual needs of infertility patients based on their preferred coping strategies and communication style. Further research is needed to examine the cost benefit of reducing perceived stress in fertility patients.

Infertility is a social and medical problem that has vast implications on the mental health of individuals. Providing support along with practical tools for stress reduction and improved coping and communication can result in reduced stress and improved coping.

This paper examined the effect of a cognitive behavioral intervention on the coping strategies and communication skills of women undergoing IVF and can contribute to our understanding of the value of integrating mental health and medical care.