Family planning in Moscow: values, attitudes, institutes

Yulia Babykina, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Irina E. Kalabikhina, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Camille Sahbetdinova, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Yana Yakovleva, Lomonosov Moscow State University

In modern Russia we are seeing a renaissance of traditional values at the level of government policy as well as folding the institutions of family planning in the conventional sense (those are working mainly in the field of education on contraception). We conducted qualitative research on family planning in Moscow to clarify the values, attitudes and opinions of respondents on existing institutes of family planning. Data and Method: it was taken 49 semi-structured interviews in Moscow region in 2015. Target groups were female respondents 30-40 ages and male respondents 30-50 ages. Research questions: We raised some questions on value of family and childbirth, on education and employment for women, on religions (in context of family planning). And some issues on attitudes to abortions, to contraceptive use, to contraceptive education and information in mass media, to role of man in reproductive decisions, to number and age of child birth, etc. The research was aimed also to estimate how modern demographic and family policies influence fertility decisions according to respondent’s opinion. We were interested in estimation of some new policy measures (f.e., week of silence) and institutes. Our results confirm the high importance of family values, the gap in attitudes and actual behavior, the dominance of gender stereotypes, myths and the presence of an ignorant attitude to contraception, the orientation of the modern institutions of family planning to help in the birth of a child to a greater extent than in contraceptive education.