Abstract:
Sri Lanka has shown a trend of male dominance in international labour migration in
recent years. A large proportion of these males are married and leave their wives
behind when they migrate for a contract period. Migration results in many
behavioural and role changes among left-behind women, but research usually
highlights the more visible socio-economic changes, such as women taking on
household financial management and the resulting empowerment. Though migration
also results in less visible changes, for example, in sexual relations and contraceptive
use, which is important for reproductive wellbeing, these have not been adequately
addressed in Sri Lankan research. To address this gap, this study examines
contraceptive use among left-behind wives. The study is based on primary data
collected in 2015 from 79 purposively selected left-behind women of reproductive
age through a questionnaire as well as through in-depth interviews with 15 of these
women in selected Grama Niladari Divisions in the Kandy District. Quantitative data
were analysed through bi-varaite analysis while content analysis was used for
qualitative data. Results revealed that other than sterilized women, all used
contraceptives only during spousal visits. A contraceptive method shift was observed
after migration; approximately 80% shifted to condom use (mainly from) injectables
and pills. The method switch was due to condoms being the most practical: they
posed no health issues for women, and spousal visits were unplanned and short.
Condoms were used only for pregnancy prevention though they offer protection from
STIs, which is a risk faced by many left-behind wives. Around 65% of the women
reported concern regarding their husbands’ STI risk, but none discussed condom use
as a protective method. Since condom use is high and it is a STI protection
mechanism, whether used intentionally or not, and there is a lack of spousal dialogue
on reproductive risk behaviours, it is important to make high quality condoms
available and easily accessible in the interests of the reproductive wellbeing of leftbehind
women.
