INTRODUCTION

 Background to the study

 The ability of women to take decisions in family planning issues such as family size, when to have a baby, choice of spacing period and the use of family planning services may not only enhance their bargaining power in family matters but will also reduce their vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (Tavory & Swidler, 2009) Fertility and its decisions in the family is influenced by ideas and changes that occur in the life of the individual associated with such characteristics as education and income levels. Thus as women climb the educational ladder and men are faced with economic challenges of life, coupled with the pressure from the family to provide and satisfy their physiological needs, women are faced with the need to make choices with respect to the number of children they should give birth to and the size of their families (Weeks, 2010) and many others. In developed and industrialized societies, the trend towards smaller family sizes has emerged due to the spread of formal education, medical and health advancements and the enhanced status of women (Miller, 2010).

Education, for example, is a very powerful indicator of involvement in fertility decision making among women globally (United Nation, 2005). It has been widely recognized as a key concept in understanding fertility behaviour (Miller, 2010). This is in line with Weeks (2010), who asserted that women who delay marriage are more likely to stay in school and then upon attaining higher education, are also more likely to find suitable employments ,they are able to compete effectively with their male counterparts in family building and lower parities than their less educated female counterparts that give birth to larger number of children. 

In as much as women have been empowered through education and economic employment to be assertive in family life decisions gender inequality, is a universal phenomenon which largely confronts women. The UN World Conference held in Mexico City, Copenhagen and Nairobi in 1975, 1980 and 1985 respectively for the advancement of women underscored the peculiar problems facing women (Pietila, 2007).Globally, women do not enjoy equality with men in terms of political, legal, social and economic rights. It has been observed that in every country, jobs that were predominantly done by women were the least well-paid and had the lowest status (Marger, 2008).The 1995 World Bank report acknowledged the same fact that gender inequality also manifests itself in family planning decision-making hence gender inequality in decision-making constitutes the major concern in this study. Family planning decision of women is a global concern because of the social and environmental impacts of population growth and maternal mortality (Ronsmans & Graham, 2006) .

Furthermore, Marger, (2008) admitted the gender differences in family planning decision making and attributed to power relation and traditional gender roles. This view was surported by Vaessen, (2004) who argued that women lack control over decision-making in reproductive health especially with regards to their family planning. They commented that women are often pressured by husbands and relatives to have large families and maintained that society had not recognized and made use of women’s knowledge and capabilities. In most developing societies, most women have no option than to succumb to the dictates of their spouses, friends and kinsmen with no control allowed over their family planning decisions (May, 2014). Of great concern is the high value traditionally placed on children, which has sustained the high fertility rate in Nsit Ibom Local Government Area and made it resistant to the forces that brought about decline in fertility in the developed countries.