The effect of sex preference on contraceptive use and fertility in rural South India
Rajaretnam, T.; Deshpande, R.V.
International Family Planning Perspectives 20(3): 88-95
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0190-3187 DOI: 10.2307/2133510Document Number: 532300
According to analyses of data from four cross-sectional surveys conducted between 1985-90 and from eight evaluation surveys of sterilization and IUD acceptors conducted between 1982-89, many women in rural South India either postpone or avoid adopting family planning because of their preferences for the birth of a child of a particular sex. Overall, couples prefer families composed of at least one son and one daughter, but in areas where contraceptive prevalence rates are high, most couples have two sons, with or without a daughter, before they initiate contraceptive use. In low-prevalence areas, couples most often have two sons and one daughter before beginning to practise family planning. In the absence of sex preference, contraceptive prevalence rates could be expected to increase by about 12% in high-prevalence areas and by around 25% in low-prevalence areas. In both areas, levels of marital fertility could be expected to decline by about 20% from current levels. India's family planning programme is largely a sterilization programme, so in areas where sex preference is still strong, overall method use rates are low. In these areas, couples will tend to accept sterilization even with smaller numbers of children and less varied sex distributions, provided that family planning programme efforts are intensified further. Popularizing reversible methods would be a better strategy, given that sex preference is less of a concern for the acceptance of reversible methods. This will help minimize the inhibiting effect of sex preference on contraceptive use and will delay subsequent births, which will reduce fertility levels.