Progress and stagnation: changes in fertility and women's position in an Indian village
Vlassoff, C.
Population Studies 46(2): 195-212
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0032-4728 DOI: 10.1080/0032472031000146196Document Number: 322005
The article compares women's status, fertility, and contraceptive use in 1975 and 1987 among married women aged 15-26 in a Maharashtra village. Changes in women's position over the 12 years were both positive and negative. Although education and age at marriage had increased, the 1987 cohort was more conservative in many respects. Fertility appeared to be declining, and women were increasingly completing their families quickly and then undergoing sterilization. However, the decline in fertility goals was not primarily due to changes in woman's status but to the active sterilization campaign in the community. The one constraint on fertility limitation was the need for sons, and in this some indicators of women's status: education, age at marriage and distance from the women's natal home, made a significant difference. The finding that women's autonomy seemed to be related to 'marriage distance' is seen to deserve further study, particularly in South Asia and other patrilocal societies.