Being a Self-determined Mother - The Relation between Education Level and Family Planning of Disabled Women in Saxony

A self-determined decision to have or not to have children is reasoned of getting information and claiming of rights. In contrast to women with a university education who decide against having children, women with disabilities are contingent very much on social structures. They are not legitimated to become a mother because of their handicaps. Because they realise their wish to have children regardless of their handicaps the influence of the course of education was studied. A representative sample of 98 women of childbearing age with sensorial or physical disabilities or serious chronically diseases and a degree of disability of 50plus were questioned. As the result women with a high- or mid-level education have significantly more frequently children and cohabitants than women with low-level qualification. The propability of becoming a mother or entering into a partnership is four times higher for women with a middle education level than for women with a low education level. That's why the access to education is identificated as one indicator for the arrangement of social relationships and for the realisation of parenthood and can therefore be determined as a key setting of direction for a self-determined life.