Women still bear disproportionate burden in many areas, shows NFHS-5 data

One in 10 women in the hinterland wanted ac­cess to family planning methods in 2019-20 but did not have an opportunity

In Rajasthan’s Tonk district, a purohit (priest) has adopted a novel way to prevent child marriage for vulnerable girls. When parents come to him for an auspicious date, he first checks the birth date documents of the would-be bride. If he finds the girl is being married off before turning 18, he tells them that no auspicious dates are available for a long time and then gently tries to persuade them against marrying off their daughters before they turn 18.

Narrating this simple yet effective technique, Zaheer Alam, Zonal Coordinator with Action Aid in Rajasthan, says the purohit is among religious leaders and influential locals who have come together to form a “Balvivah Jagriti Manch” in the district.

The local administration is also active, especially now since it is the marriage season in North India. An order passed earlier this week mandates that caterers, printing press owners, maulvis/purohits and others involved in marriages must report any instance of underage girls being married off to a 24x7 control room that has been established to prevent child marriages. The efforts being put in by the administration as well as NGOs come even as latest government data show that in 2019-21, nearly every fourth Indian woman got married before turning 18. Though there has been a decline in this scourge — in 2014-15, the percentage was nearly 27 — the decline is neither fast enough nor uniform across states.

One of the worst performers in child marriages was Bihar, according to the National Family Health Survey 5, where nearly 41 per cent women were married before they turned 18. In Rajasthan, this percentage was 25.4 in 2019-21.

Not just being married off early, women in India also continue to bear a disproportionate burden in several parameters. Literacy, spousal violence, nutritional deficiencies, freedom to operate a mobile phone and earning a wage — while all of these markers have improved over the years, a large number of women still continue to struggle.

Take the total fertility rate (TFR) for instance. There has been much commentary over TFR dropping below the replacement rate for the first time in India since the national health surveys started. The NFHS5 data show that TFR at the all-India level is now 2 versus 2.2 in NFHS4, below the replacement rate of 2.1. TFR denotes the number of children a woman will have in her lifetime while replacement rate is the rate at which the number of births and deaths are equal. So India’s population explosion fears have turned out to be unfounded and the population will gradually start declining from now on. But this still does not mean that women have more control over the number of children they would like to have. One in 10 women in India’s hinterland wanted access to family planning methods in 2019-20 but did not have an opportunity. At an all-India level, 9.4 per cent women had this unmet need for family planning.

While NFHS5 data show that there has been an increase in the use of modern contraceptive methods, a simultaneous increase in female sterilisation coupled with continued stagnation in male sterilisation uptake shows that not only do women lack control over how many children they want, but the onus of all family planning still lies with them.

“The government must adopt a targeted social and behaviour change communication strategy to ensure that men also take responsibility for family planning. Most programmes assume that primarily women are contraceptive users. There is a dearth of interventions that focus on improving male engagement in family planning,” says Poonam Muttreja, executive director at the Population Foundation of India.

Gender expert Debanjana Choudhuri, associated with the Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India, echoes Muttreja. She points out that while the fall in TFR has brought about a sense of achievement, “we see an increase in the uptake of female sterilisation even as the adoption of male sterilisation remains stagnant, highlighting that the burden of contraception usage still falls upon women”.

The NFHS5 data also show continued prevalence of spousal violence. More than 29 per cent women surveyed had experienced spousal violence, a slight decline from 31.2 per cent seen in NFHS4 but still involving a sizable proportion. In fact, gender activists are already pointing out that patriarchy is evident in the questionnaire used in the survey itself. One of the questions asked of men is: “In your opinion, is a husband justified in hitting or beating his wife in the following situation?” and goes on to list seven reasons. These include neglecting the house or children, disrespect for in-laws and improperly cooked food. “The way the questions are asked reinforces a stereotypical woman who is seemingly doing wrong if she fails to perform all traditional responsibilities. Obviously then, women feel guilty and responsible for anything going wrong in the family. They then also think that mild pushing/kicking by the spouse is okay since severe abuse would be much worse. They start viewing men as controllers,” says Ranjana Kumari, Director in Centre for Social Research.

Will the status of women improve as literacy rates surge? The NFHS5 data show that at the all-India level, 3 in 10 were illiterate even in 2019-21. Illiteracy is more widespread among rural women than rural men (also urban women than urban men), since only about every fifth rural male is illiterate. The survey defines literacy as school education till Class IX or the ability to read even a part of any sentence. If we look for further education, at an all-India level, every second male has had at least 10 years of school education versus just four in 10 women.

Ranjana Kumari says that while the improvement in literacy rates is positive, the target of achieving 100 per cent literacy by 2020 has been missed. “The target was 100 per cent female literacy by 2020. We are still behind Bangladesh and many other countries,” she says.

Alam of Action Aid says improving access to education, especially after the pandemic worsened school enrolment rates, will go a long way in preventing child marriages. Perhaps the slogan “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” needs far better implementation for literacy and therefore many other development markers for women to improve.