Women’s Empowerment and Gender Preferences for Children: A Study of Four Metropolitan Cities in India
Protap Mukherjee * and Lopamudra Ray Saraswati *
Abstract
This paper uses data from National Family Health Survey-2 to document women’s empowerment and is an attempt to identify the association between indirect and direct indicators of women’s empowerment and its evidences in four metropolitan cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. The relationship of the different measures of empowerment and the socio-cultural settings to gender and educational preferences for children are also examined in this study. For studying the determinants of gender and educational preferences, multiple logistic regression models have been employed. Direct indicators of women’s empowerment includes decision making, mobility and access to economic resources are viewed both as a process and an outcome. Education and work participation of women, the so-called indirect indicators of women empowerment, shows stronger association with the direct indicators of autonomy. Besides indirect measures of autonomy, direct indicators show a significant effect on the gender preferences. It has also significant impact on the existence of a favourable attitude towards girl’s education. However, there are socio-cultural variation in the level of empowerment and also gender preferences in four metropolitan cities.
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*International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai-400088, India
Protap: and
Lopamudra: and
Introduction
Women Empowerment: Empowerment of women in the economic and social fields constitutes one of the fundamental objectives of all development efforts in the region.The demographic transition of the country in the recent years has brought the issues of women and children into the forefront of the country's development strategy. National Population Policy brings in the issues of reproductive rights of women and of the larger conceptual issues of gender equality and of empowerment of women within and outside the household. The linking of the issue of reproductive health with women's empowerment recognizes that underlying the issue of good health and nutrition for women; we need to examine the issue of power and the nature of gender relations between men and women within the family and community.
In many societies around the world, women never belong wholly to themselves; they are the property of others throughout their lives. Their physical well-being – health, security and bodily integrity – is often beyond their own control. Where women have no control over money, they cannot choose to get health care for themselves or their children. Where having a large number of children confers status on both men and women – indeed, where childbearing may be the only marker of value available to women – frequent pregnancy and labor can be deadly.
The cultures of South Asia are largely gender stratified, characterized by patrilineal descent, patrilocal residence, inheritance and succession practices that exclude women, and hierarchical relations in which the patriarch or his relatives have authority over family members. Levels and patterns of female autonomy vary considerably within the region, however, and the question is why.
Fertility preferences are the indicators of general attitude and possible future course of fertility. A preference for sons or for more sons than daughters has been documented in several countries in the world. Preference for male children is especially prevalent in South Asia, East Asia and North Africa, while in many European and Latin American countries; a balanced sex composition of children is more commonly preferred.
1 Research Officer, 2 M.Phil Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Deonar, Mumbai-400088, E-mail: and .
In India, in particular, son preference is very strong and pervasive and has been frequently cited as one of the major obstacles for reducing the national fertility level. According to this argument, if couples continue to bear children in order to have a minimum number of desired sons, they would exceed the two-child family norm advocated by the national family planning programme.
Alongwith this fertility preferences in India, there is pronounced evidences of gender bias in attitudes towards education. The reasons again may be same as Indian society are dominated by male where females are highly negligible.
Literature supports that the growing participation of women in paid employment has contributed significantly to the economic and social empowerment of women. Access to earned income improves women's position within the household substantially, gives them greater control over the distribution of such earnings and household resources, and generally improves their status and strength in society as well as their own self-esteem. The ability to earn income from outside and to engage in activities other than household-oriented ones can lead to significant social change in the long run.
Need for the Study: Studies on women’s empowerment as such, are rare. There is a lack of knowledge regarding different dimensions of women’s autonomy and specific strategies to enhance it. Laws and institutional rules can support the endeavour of women’s empowerment, but considering the complex cultural beliefs and practices that lie at the root of the imbalance, the effectiveness of such isolated efforts remains doubtful. Besides these, there are hardly any study regarding women empowerment and gender and fertility preferences in metropolitan cities of India.
Objectives
The main objectives of the present papers are:
i)To measure the level of women’s empowerment in four metropolitan cities in India
ii)To study the level of women’s empowerment by different background characteristics
iii)To examine the effect of women empowerment on gender bias in education and future fertility preferences.
Data Source
For the present study, data has been obtained from “National Family Health Survey-II” (NFHS-1998-99). NFHS-II covered a representative sample of more than 90,000 eligible women aged 15-49 from 26 states that existed at that time. But it also provides data separately for four metropolitan cities: Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai. The questionnaire was also same for these cities. For the present study, we selected only eligible women in these cities which are 2010 for Mumbai, 979 for Calcutta, 2477 for Delhi and 929 for Chennai.
The NFHS-II survey collected information on a variety of aspects related to the status of women and is a reliable resource to understanding different dimensions of women’s autonomy India
Methodology
The variables related to women’s empowerment have been categorized into two groups. The first category is referred to as indirect indicators of empowerment and includes education, occupation, age and educational differences between spouses and exposure to mass media. These indicate the characteristics that have relevance in influencing a woman’s access to and control over resources. The second group is direct indicators of empowerment, and consists of indicators such as involvement in decision making, freedom of movement and access to money. These indicators tend to provide evidence of empowerment.
Direct indicators of women empowerment have been computed directly from questions asked to the respondents. For computing composite index regarding involvement in decision making, following aspects have been taken into consideration: i) decision regarding obtaining health care, ii) decision regarding purchasing jewellery or other major household’s items and iii) decision regarding going or staying with parents or siblings. The decision making power, thus obtained has been divided into three categories: not involved, partially involved and completely involved. Another index regarding freedom of movement has been computed based on the following questions: i) need permission to the go to the market and ii) need permission to visit the relatives or friends.
In case of indirect indicators, age differences and educational differences between spouses have been computed and categorized. Exposure to at least one and all mass media have also been developed and taken as indirect indicators for empowerment.
Favourable attitude towards girls’ education have been taken as a dependent variable in this study which is based on the question “In your opinion, how much education should be given to girls these days”. Base on this question, a variable was computed and the attitude towards girls’ education has been categorized into two groups: i) less than boys and ii) more or equal to boys.
Simple percentage, bi-variate and multivariate (simple logistic regression) have been carried out in the present study.
Findings
Table 1: Background Characteristics of Currently Married Women
In Calcutta, 41 percent women belong to more than 35 years of age group. And the same percentage of women married below the age of twenty one. Majority of them belong to Hindu religion (88 percent) and other caste groups (84 percent) and households of medium standard of living (34 percent). Almost 50 percent of the husbands have their education equal or above Higher Secondary level.
The situation is slightly different for Chennai. Findings show that Majority of women belong to age group 25-35 years and majority of them married at the age between 18-22 years (51 percent). More than 70 percent women in Chennai belong to other backward class groups.
In Mumbai, 22 percent women belong to Muslim religion and one-third of them belong to SC/ST/OBC categories. It is found that percentage of women belong to higher standard of living households are considerably higher (43 percent). The composition of women in New Delhi is found to be more or less similar to women in Mumbai. The interesting finding is that nearly 70 percent women in New Delhi belong to households of higher standard of living.
Table 2: Level of Indirect and Direct Empowerment of Currently Married Women
Among women in Calcutta, more than one-fifth are illiterate and almost one-third has education equal or more than Higher Secondary Level. These findingins are almost same for women living in Chennai and Mumbai. But regarding women in New Delhi, their percentage is considerably higher in both illiterate group (28 percent) and higher education category (44 percent). Big age differences have been found among the spouses in Calcutta (41 percent) where as the little age differences between spouses are prominent in New Delhi (55 percent). Regarding educational differences between spouses, 47 percent of women in Calcutta have educational level equal or more than their husbands where as in Chennai the result is opposite. The results show that 21 percent of women are currently working whereas the proportion of women in this group is 26 for Chennai. More than 90 percent of women are exposed to at least one mass media in all four metropolitan cities in India. But more than one-third of women living in Mumbai and New Delhi have exposure to all sorts of mass media. Both in case of ever use and current use of contraception, the women in Calcutta are found to be more like to use it.
Regarding direct indicators of empowerment, the results show that, majority of women (49 percent) in Calcutta are completely involved in decision making than women living in other three metropolitan cities. The interesting finding is that the percentage of women not involved in decision making is higher among the women (30 percent) in Calcutta. But the percentage of women who has more control over resources, that is, access to money is found to be higher in Chennai and New Delhi. Regarding freedom of movement, 79 percent of women have incomplete freedom whereas more than 60 percent women in Chennai have complete freedom for their own movement.
Table 3: Level of Direct Empowerment by Background Characteristics
Calcutta: The percentage of women completely involved in decision making is higher among women belong to age group of more than 35 years, Hindu women, women from other backward class, women belong to households of low standard of living, who have little age differences from husbands, working women, and those who are exposed partly or completely to mass media. Regarding control over resources, it is more positive among women of higher age group, the women from other backward class and other religions, women with higher education, women from high standard of living households, have education more or equal to husbands, and among working women. But incomplete freedom for movement are seen among women belong to Muslim religion and other backward class. This is also dominant among women with both less and higher education. Freedom for movement is positively related with little age and educational differences between spouses, the working status of the women and exposure to mass media. There is a variation in the level of direct indicators of empowerment by different background characteristics in different cities also.
Table 4: Women Empowerment and Favours for Girls’ Education
The findings reveal that the attitude towards girls education are more prone among women with exposure to mass media, little age differences from husbands and those who have control over economic resources. But the surprising fact is that the proportions of women in Calcutta who have incomplete freedom for movement, majority of them have a favourable attitude toward girls’ education. This is opposite in case of women living in other three cities. Another surprising fact regarding attitude towards girls’ education reveal that the women in Calcutta who are not involved in decision making are more favourable towards girls’ education. This scenario is vise versa in other three cities.
Table 5: Women Empowerment and Fertility Preferences
The results reveal that the women with higher education and households of high standard of living did not want more children though this proportion is higher among the women in Chennai. The women who have little age differences from their husbands also less prone to have another child. Except Calcutta, the wantedness for additional child has been found negative among the women having similar or more education than their husbands in other three cities. The results reveal that direct indicators of autonomy have negative association with the wantedness of another child in all four cities of India.
Table 6: Logistic Regression Analyses: Favouring Girls’ Education
The women from Muslim and other religions are more favourable towards girls’ education in the three cities of India. The women in Chennai are found to be exception in this regard. Women’s education has positively associated with the favourable attitude towards girls’ education. The analyses show that except women in Chennai, the women who have completely involved in decision making are more favourable towards girls’ education compared to women who don’t have involvement in decision making. Controls over economic resources are significantly associated with attitude towards girls’ education though the direction varies by cities. In Calcutta and Chennai, the women who enjoy control over resources are more favourable towards girls’ education. It is vice versa among women in Mumbai and New Delhi. Freedom of movement has slight impact on this attitude in all four cities.
Table 7: Logistic Regression Analyses: Fertility Preferences
Women’s age, education and standard of living are significantly negatively associated with the future fertility preferences. The women who have little age difference from their husbands and have mass media exposure are less prone to have fertility preferences. He result is significant when it show that the women completely involved in decision making are less likely to opt for another child. And again women who are enjoying full freedom for movement, they also less likely for future child bearing.
Conclusions
This paper provides strong support for the argument that direct and indirect indicators of autonomy play a role in determining patterns of attitude towards girls’ education and future fertility preferences in four metropolitan cities in India. Even after controlling for socio-economic, demographic and structural indicators, for example, there is evidence that female autonomy levels – albeit not all dimensions of autonomy – influence attitudes towards girls’ education and their preferences for fertility. However, these influences are not uniform. The relative influences of individual autonomy indicators vary over the different socio-economic settings and further research is needed to probe these differences.
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