The domestic servant as family planning innovator: an Indian case study
Basu, A.M.; Sundar, R.
Studies in Family Planning 19(5): 292-298
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0039-3665 PMID: 3188134 DOI: 10.2307/1966794Document Number: 361479
The National Council of Applied Economic Research in Delhi, India surveyed 578 ever-married 15-49 year-old women who had migrated to Delhi from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Researchers learned that domestic servants had fewer numbers of ever-born and living children (2.33 and 1.85 respectively) than women working in other occupations (3.12 and 2.47) and women who are unemployed (2.40 and 2.06). The researchers suggested that this low fertility, which they believe to be volitional, may have been due to the incompatibility between the servant's reproductive and productive roles and the changing values caused by continued exposure to a wealthy lifestyle. They recommended that, at least in urban settings as described in this report, middle-to-upper class housewives employed on a part-time basis should promote family planning to the poor. The researchers further suggested that these well-off women may have a greater impact on fertility behavior than family planning workers from a similar background. They admitted, however, that there may be problems as to the ethical value of this approach given that the poor and the wealthy are distinguished by much more than different fertility levels.