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

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 Tonk.

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 NFHS-5 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 the unmet family planning need.

While NFHS-5 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.

The NFHS-5 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 NFHS-4 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.

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