The two-child norm in the Philippines

A significant proportion of Filipino women have started to appreciate the importance of having smaller families and have acted to achieve their preferences. Women who appear to be in the forefront of this development include those living in urban areas (notably Metro Manila residents), certain ethnic groups such as Cebuano, Ilonggo, and Ilocano, and women who delayed marriage. Education and female employment as well as exposure to mass media showed little effect in the presence of other variables. Such limited findings from the multivariate analysis call for further exploration. While the study incorporated a few characteristics of husbands (e.g., educational attainment and occupation), a more thorough exploration of Filipino males" attitudes and fertility aspirations might shed more light on the emergence of the two-child norm. In several local studies, Filipino males were found to desire more children than did their wives, and the husband"s opinion tends to prevail when disagreement over fertility preferences arises. Future nationwide demographic surveys in the Philippines should perhaps take a closer look at this issue and include males as respondents in order to identify their fertility aspirations, attitudes towards contraception, and views on other issues. (Author abstract, modified)