Is Improving the Status of Women Will Control the Population?

In traditional societies, the status of women is generally low. In such societies, child bearing itself restores prestige to the wife, for a childless woman is looked down upon.

Sociologists have observed that the new daughter-in-law in the Indian family, for instance, is accorded her rightful status only after she gives birth to a child, preferably a son.

The low status of women is reflected in the marked preference which parents in such traditional societies has for sons, and in the way in which women themselves perpetuates such values.

It has been pointed out that “in Oriental agrarian societies, the higher value placed upon sons than daughters probably arise not only from the presumed economic advantages of sons to parents but also from considerations of religion and social prestige.”

It is, therefore not uncommon for a couple to go on having children till at least one son is born.

Research evidence is available through several studies to show that Indian couples desire and hope to have, not one, but at least two sons. Such a situation cannot be remedied unless the status of women in society is improved.

Perhaps the first step in this direction is the education of women. Research has indicated that the only factor which is invariably associated with lower fertility is the educational status of the wife.

In India, too, the findings of several studies indicate that the educational status of women is associated negatively with fertility.

While commenting on this negative association, John Cool points out, “It is recognised that many other factors were at work in addition to education and that it is not possible to say with precision what proportion of fertility differentials related to educational is exclusively a result of educational itself.

But a recent study has shown that one-third of the total variance in fertility in a number of countries is the result of education and that education was four times more significant than a combination of all the other variables which were measured.”

Here, again, while trying to understand the interrelationship between educational attainment and fertility, it is important to remember that “it is not higher education per, but its association with factors such as openness to new ideas, higher socio-economic status and standards of living, exposure to an urban environment, and a greater range of options and interest outside the home that is responsible for the apparent influence of one on the other.”

Education may also be expected to improve the status of the woman in the family. Today, in traditional societies, her role in the family is only complementary, and she has little or no say in making decisions, especially during the early stages of her married life, which are of the utmost importance for family building.

The improved status of women will help to realise the ideal of marital relationship based on communication and companionship between husband and wife, joint decision-making and proper distribution of authority. This type of marital relationship is known to be conducive to the acceptance of family planning.

The extent of participation of women in the labour force is one indicator of the status of women in a country. What is relevant for fertility behaviour, however, is not the recorded labour force participation rate but the extent of their wage employment away from home.

Women who work outside their homes are generally found to have lower fertility than those who do not do so. The controversial question which remains unanswered is whether they have a smaller number of children because they work, or work because they have a smaller number of children.

It is obvious, however, that once women find alternate roles of self-expression and self-development, they would not be satisfied with only the role of wife and mother and would, therefore, opt for smaller families.

It is significant that the Planning Commission has expressly recognized the need for improving the status of women while outlining the family planning programme in India.

“There should be the greatest emphasis on social policies in regard to the education of women, the opening up of new employment opportunities for them and the raising of the age for marriage.”

Again, one of the tasks assigned to the team of United Nations Experts which was invited by the Government of India in 1965, was to consider “the problem of coordinating the family planning programmes in related social fields, including health, education, community development and status of women.”

The revised strategy for the Indian National Family Welfare Programme proposed in 1986 also emphasised raising the status of women as one of the ‘Beyond Family Planning’ measures for bringing about a more rapid fertility decline.