Journal Research in Peace, Gender and Development (JRPGD) Vol. 3(9) pp. 159-165, December, 2013
DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/jrpgd.2013.112
Available online http://www.interesjournals.org/ JRPGD
Copyright © 2013 International Research Journals
Review
A glimpse on women’s fertility: A study of fringe of
Bilaspur, India
Sribas Goswami
Department of Sociology, Serampore College, Hooghly, W.B, India
E-mail: sribasgoswami@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Serious concerns have been expressed regarding population growth and its impact on human welfare.
In India although birth rates are declining, high fertility is deep rooted. Biological behavioral factors,
through which social, economic and environmental variable affects fertility. Only during 60s in India it
was increasingly realized that a comprehensive approach to studying fertility behavior and the means of
lowering it should necessarily involve factors such as sociological, biological, economical etc. This
paper tries to examine the factors that affecting women fertility in the fringe of Bilaspur. It is well known
fact that in all societies women not only give birth to the children, but they also do most of the childcare.
Therefore circumstances of high fertility tend to lock them up within the domestic domain. In high
fertility societies women’s relatively short lives- and in some places still are - dominated by the
responsibilities of childbirth and childcare. The context for this paper includes the need to make
accurate population projections. This is not to deny that at most levels of analysis such socio-economic
factors tend to be associated positively with each other, and negatively with fertility. Nor is it to deny
that such variables may have some effect in facilitating -speeding up very slightly – regional level
fertility falls, fringe of Bilaspur is no exception in this regard. Through this micro level study an attempt
has been made to understand several factors which is responsible for high fertility in India.
Keywords: Fertility, Contraceptive measurement, Polygamy, Demography, Fecundity, infant mortality, illiteracy.
INTRODUCTION
Human fertility is responsible for biological replacement
and for the maintenance of human society. Fluctuations
in fertility rates of a place might take place in response to
biological, political, social, and economical conditions.
With fertility decline reaching all the continents, human
societies in the developing world are passing through an
irreversible phase in their demographic history. This
decline, which illustrates the second phase of the
demographic transition following the inception of mortality
decline, is a product of important transformations
affecting households and their economic functioning in a
society undergoing rapid changes. The word ‘population’
is a crucial concept in the discipline of demography that,
abstracted from the multifaceted aspects of people’s
lives, classifies them according to such numerically
observable characteristics as age, sex, marital status,
reproductive age, age at marriage, employment status,
fertility rate etc. The large canvas covered by
demography demands that some quantitative data must
be in place to have the idea of the size, composition, and
distribution of population across the globe.
Reproductive behavior of women has been a concern
especially during recent decades. The fertility pattern and
contraceptive use among adolescents help us to
understand the implications for adolescent reproductive
health in a society; it also gives insight to the future
fertility situation in the country. We will discuss in detail
about the factors affecting the fertility rate in fringe of
Bilaspur.
Recent decades have witnessed growing interest of
social scientist including population sociologists in the
ever-increasing demographic dynamism, especially in the
less developed realm. Population growth in an area holds
the key of the understanding of entire demographic
160 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
structure of the area. Fertility is one of the main
components of population growth. It refers to the
occurrence of birth. India had a total fertility rate of 2.72
per women (See District Statistical Office, District
Statistical Handbook 2001, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, 2012).
It has become the leading nation to contribute to the
world’s teeming billion. In our discussion there may be
more deep-seated regional dimensions of Bilashpur’s
society which have helped to determine the timing and
extent of both socio-economic and demographic
progress. Accordingly, when one looks at current fertility
variation - e.g. across the area’s major villages - what
one observes to a considerable extent is differences in
the timing of fertility decline, more than differences in the
impact of these socio-economic variables.
The present study is a humble attempt to analyze the
reproductive behavior of the population in fringe area of
Bilaspur. This paper gives a special emphasis on
reproductive behavior for married women in 15-49 age
groups. The word fringe means the zone or frontier at the
discontinuity between city and country in which rural and
urban land use are intermixed. The fringe is defined in
relation to the city and exists in the agricultural inter-land
where land use is changing.
were selected for a detailed investigation on fertility
behavior of women. Four villages are Kormi, Banakdee,
Mahammed, and Ushlapur. There are 21 villages in the
fringe area of Bilaspur city. Total 11535.7sq Hectares for
the study of reproductive behavior in the fringe area have
been selected.
Brief descriptions of Villages
Kormi- The total area of village is 326.8 sq hectares.
Total population of the village is 4009 nos. among in
which male is 2008 and female are 2001.
Banakdee- The area of total village is 125.4 sq
hectares and total population is 750 nos. in which 287
nos. are male and 363 nos. are female.
Mahammed- The area of the village is 551.8 sq
hectares. Total population in this village is 5500 nos.
among which male is 2765 nos. are male and female is
2735.
Ushlapur has total population 1978 nos. among which
male is 992 nos. and female is 986 nos.
METHOD OF STUDY
Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to analysis of the social and
economic dimensions of demographic change through
the study of spatial heterogeneity of fertility in the fringe
of Bilaspur, with two central objectives —description and
interpretation of fertility transition in this area, in order to
contribute to a global synthesis on current population
dynamics in developing countries. It will also help to
identify the villages where the fall of natural increase and
of overall population growth will be the most pronounced
in the next decade as well as those with a still powerful
growth potential.
Another objective of the study is to examine, for the
first time, fertility patterns at the micro/small unit level
(village). Availability of computerized data from the 2011
census of India (See City Development Plan, Bilashpur,
2012).
at the lowest administrative level (village
blocks/urban wards) and the availability of fertility-related
measurements from the census of India were useful in
this analysis. Based on this, research issues and specific
locations were identified for a detailed investigation at the
field level during the second phase of the study. The
most important tool in the study is the use of detailed
behavior of fertility decline as an illustration of the
diffusion process.
Area of study
For the purpose of this micro-level enquiry, four villages
In modern research especially of large-scale survey kind,
the grids of conceptual language that involve both
concepts, definitions, and classificatory procedure
together with methodology of data collection and
compilation tend to fix our sensible perception, and
necessarily our thought and behavior. As a first step, all
the available secondary information is gathered from
various sources. Present study mainly based on the
primary data selected by random sampling method. The
information was collected from the married females of 1549years age groups. Data is collected through interview
method. In this study 551 families of four villages are
selected as sample. Studies of four villages provided us
information about different levels of socio-economic
development and various stages of fertility transition. This
study is based on micro level survey and information is
collected through structured interview schedule. The
study was conducted in 2012.
Various issues affecting the fertility rate among
women
Fertility plays a very important role in bringing about
changes in population. We can analyze the collected data
for discussion on the factors that affects the fertility. The
basic determinates of fertility include some kind of
factors, which influence the fertility rate of population. For
our convenience we may classify these factors into major
four groups.
1.
Biological factors.
Goswami 161
Table 1. Present age of female and fertility in the fringe of Bilaspur
Age group
15-19
No. of Mother
12
No. of Child
15
Mother/ child ratio
1.25
20-24
25-29
99
134
164
363
1.66
2.71
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
Total
88
116
71
31
551
301
432
275
109
1659
3.42
3.72
3.87
3.52
3.01
Source- Personal survey-2012.
Table 2. Age of marriage of women
Age group
No. of Mother
No. of Child
Mother/Child ratio
<15
16
60
3.75
15-18
440
1384
3.15
19-22
94
212
2.26
23-26
Total
1
551
3
1659
3.00
3.01
Source- Personal survey-2012.
Table 3. Duration of married life and fertility of women
Duration of married life
No. of Mother
No. of Child
Mother/Child ratio
<5
79
69
0.87
5-9
108
280
2.59
10-14
104
342
3.29
15-19
20-24
25-29
>29
Total
114
99
41
6
551
426
374
149
19
1659
3.74
3.78
3.63
3.17
3.01
Source. Personal survey-2012.
2.
3.
4.
Demographic factors.
Economic factors.
Socio-cultural factors.
Biological factors
a.
Fecundity and fertility.
b. Physical and mental health.
Biological factors are considered the basic determinates
of fertility and they themselves influence the fertility rate.
Fecundity, physical and mental heath has been
considered as important determinates of fertility. This is
not to say that the biological factor has no role to play,
but to say that apart from it the cultural and social
dimensions do have a large share in influencing the
fertility of women. For instance, the demographic
category of fertility steps forth into existence only in
marriage in some societies, but this is not the normative
pattern in many others. However the biological factors
are follows.
a.
Fecundity and fertility: Genetic fertility or
fecundity is the most important biological factor
determining fertility. Fertility among women is restricted to
their reproductive span, which begins with the attainment
of puberty and ends with the arrival of menopause.
Fecundity is biological potential – the physiological
capacity to participate in reproduction.
b.
Physical and mental health: General health
condition and hygienic habits are also regarded as
162 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Table 4. Age of mother at the time of first delivery
Age group
No. of Mother
No. of Child
Mother/Child ratio
15-18
19-22
23-26
339
194
18
968
650
41
2.86
3.35
2.28
Source-Personal survey-2012.
Table 5. Infant mortality in the fringe of Bilaspur
SL No
1
2
3
4
5
Reasons of Mortality
Still death
Fiver
Dehydration
Diarrhea
Weakness
Total
No of infant death case
5
2
1
2
1
11
Source- Personal survey-2012.
important biological determinates of human fertility. Bad
hygienic condition can lead to partial or complete sterility.
Poor health conditions lead to mortality, which affects
human fertility.
Demographic factors
Among the demographic factors age composition, sex
composition, degree of Urbanization is most important
which has direct implication with the women fertility in this
area. It is speculated that the provision of care to a huge
population including the sizeable proportion of the aged
people would be a Herculean task. And therefore, in
addition to Government’s greater commitment to care
(social as well as health) of elderly people, there is need
for policy intervention to reinforce the existing family
support, which in the conditions of modernity is gradually
crumbling down. On the other hand women autonomy is
synonymous to women empowerment. In gives an
indication on women’s participation in household
decision-making, freedom of movement, access to
money etc. which has likely to have a significant effect on
demography by influencing their attitude and ability in
fertility. Following data is collected through survey.
Present age of Females:
The following table reflects the present age groups of
mothers with their fertility potential. It is generally seen
that the fertility is decreasing with the gradual increase in
the age of females. These will be the young adults who
would participate in making entry into families and thus
would be responsible for future rise of population.
Therefore, they need to be targeted if India is to achieve
replacement level of fertility of 2.10 (Total fertility
rate=2.1) by the next decade.
From the above table it is clear that the age group in
between 45- 49 having higher degree of fertility even
higher than the age group 15-19 and above. But the table
also reflects age group in between 35-39 has the highest
no of children and the child mother ratio is 3.72. Even in
the age group 40-44 the child mother ratio is 3.87 which
shows that mother in this area enjoys a long period
fertility and indicates the ability of reproduction for long
span of time. The level of fertility of women is still high
with respect to increasing age. This may have an effect
on the total fertility level of the country. The varying pace
of fertility is also manifested in the distribution of
population between the young and old people.
Age of Marriage:
Age of mother at the time of marriage has great effect on
the fertility. Women with early marriage get an early
opportunity is making their fertility performance and
enjoys a longer period of fertility. This area reflects the
partial picture of women fertility in India.
From the above it is seen that the no. of average child
is more (3.75) among the female who are married bellow
15 years age. But from the above data it is clear that the
fertility rate is decreasing with the increase in age of
marriage. It is clear that mothers of age group between
15- 18 years have the highest number of children and
they give birth their first child in this age group from the
table no 4 it is clear. The remarkable fact is that age
group in between 23-26 has lowest number of cases of
marriage. This is the reflection of Indian culture in which
parents do not permit their daughter to remain unmarried
in the family for long time. In many cases we can see the
case of marriages bellow 15 years which is prohibited by
legal authority in India.
For our convenience we make a hypothesis of
relationship between age at marriage and fertility in the
fringe of Bilaspur. In this regard to check the hypothesis
we take a relevant test named ‘Chi square test’. Here on
Goswami 163
Table 6. Fertility among working and non working mother
Group
Working mothers
Non working mothers
Total
No of mother
24
527
551
No of child
55
1604
1659
Mother/ child ratio
2.29
3.04
3.01
Source- Personal survey-2012.
the 0.001 significance level the ‘Chi’ value (16.27) is
greater than the calculate value (6.73). So the significant
is clear between fertility and age of marriage.
social and economical conditions are not good the cases
of infant mortality is high.
From the above table it is clear the fringe has high
death, fiver, and diarrhea rate.
Duration of married life and fertility
Infant mortality rate of study area
Duration of marriage is an important factor in the study of
fertility performance. Women with longer duration of
marriage are endowed higher fertility.
Above table shows that the fertility rate is high among
those females who enjoy long married life and have
comparatively good number of children. Among the
respondents who enjoy 15- 19 and 20-24 years span of
married life they have the maximum children where
mother / child ration is 3.74 and 3.78 respectively.
Because from table 2 we can see the tendency of early
marriage in this area is prevailing culture.
No of dead children during 1
year
I.M.R
1000
=
----------------------------------------- X
No of child born
=
11 X 1000
--------------1659
=
6.63%
Age of mother at the time of first delivery of child
Economical factors
After marriage every couple desires to have children. It is
inner feeling and source of satisfaction to every married
person that they have their own children.
Above table show us that the age of mother is an
important matter of concern. Mothers having age
between 19-22 years the fertility rate is very high in the
fringe of Bilaspur. Among surveyed fringe the fertility rate
is very high in 15-18 age groups in Ushlapur and
Bannakdee. From the available data it is clear that age
group in between 19- 22 is the most important span of
time when women in these area use to give birth of their
first child. If we see the table no-2 it would be clear that
maximum number of women marries in the age below 15
years and just after one year they become mother in
maximum cases. The analysis shows that the higher the
age of women at the time of first birth, the lower will be
the fertility.
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is another important factor in influencing
fertility rate. Many infants died just after their birth or their
span of life is very short due to various reasons. High
levels of infant mortality combined with the strong son
preference motivate women to bear high numbers of
children in an attempt to have a son or two survive to
adulthood. Infant mortality lies in the stage of social and
economic development of the society. In society where
Economical factors play an important role which affects
fertility rate very much directly as well as indirectly. In
general fertility rate is high among the farmers as
compared to service man. Again fertility rate is high in low
income groups and this group has high mortality rate due
to adequate medical infrastructure and unhygienic food
consumption.
Income level: during field survey it is revealed that
maximum house hold has negative relationship between
income and fertility rate. High income group has good
education facility and that caused the low infant mortality.
In surveyed area in the fringe most of the families having
monthly income in between Rs. 1000-2500 are found.
Fertility among working and non working mothers
An effort has been made to know the fertility behavior of
women among the working and nonworking group. In
surveyed area 58.91% family earns bellow Rs.2000 per
month and only 0.73% earns Rs.8000 per month. So the
overall scenario indicates people belong to low income
group mostly. Generally the numbers of children born
are less in working women. The following table will show
the present picture of this area. Generally nonworking
mothers have better opportunity to have issues because
their physical and other circumstances suits in their favor.
Working women in order to avoid the problem of looking
164 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Table 7. Types of family and fertility in fringe of Bilaspur
Type of family
Nuclear
Joint
Total
No of mother
382
169
551
No of child
1301
358
1659
Mother/ child ratio
3.41
2.19
3.01
Source- Personal survey-2012
Table 8. Mother’s education and fertility behavior
Education level
Illiterate
Literate
No of mother
362
189
No of child
1277
382
Mother / child ratio
3.53
2.02
Source- Personal survey-2012
after and maintenance their child they take either less
issues or take late issues. Majority of women with higher
level of education must have migrated to urban areas in
search of job opportunities. This happens mostly with the
working literate mothers.
Social factors
The social determinants are much longer than Biological
and Demographic determinates so very much significant
in studying women fertility. Religion is one of the social
factors in governing the familial decisions regarding the
size and the offspring of the family especially in India
where religion plays dominating position which is directly
related to the fertility. In some religion family planning is
considered is anti religion and children are the gift of god.
Some villagers consider children as their assets which
lead to high fertility. Having children, especially male
children, improves a women’s status in society.
a.
Polygamy- it is noticed that in polygamy
fertility is comparatively lowers than in monogamy, in this
system in which a husband can have more than one wife
at a time. Presently system of polygamy is rarely
observed by the people but during survey few cases of
polygamy are found.
b.
Separation and divorce- surveyed area has
very negligible cases of separated and divorce were
found and study show that fertility rate is low among
these group.
c.
Widowhood- Widow and widowhood is a
normal phenomenon among the old age, but in case of
young widow this is believed as misfortune. In this group
low fertility is observed until their remarriage. In this
practice women can’t remarry in normal situation unless
family or society permits.
d.
Types of family and fertility- In surveyed area
that most of the families are nuclear and few of them are
joint families. It is common tendency among the Indian
living in joint family to have many children but in case of
nuclear family the picture is just opposite. The causes
might be economical or social but the structure of the
family has great influence over the fertility behavior.
The following table shows us the clear picture of the
family structure and their distribution of child population.
Though the surveyed area mostly covers nuclear family
but joint families do not lag behind. As table 7 reflects
that large number of women belong to nuclear family and
they have better opportunity to look after their children
very well. Nuclear family system is emerging with great
impetus now days.
The following table reflects how education has a direct
impact over the women fertility. The higher percentages
reported for women who had no formal schooling reflects
low level of education of the inhabitants.
Mother’s education, according to the NFHS See
Directorate of Economics and Statistics, District-wise
Socio-economic
Development
Index
2001
of
Chhattisgarh State, Chhattisgarh, is highly correlated with
the level of malnutrition among children. Among various
reasons it is clear from the surveyed area the practice of
early marriage causes women get long span of time for
producing child and over all population increases.
Through this study we can draw the picture of factors
which plays an important role in controlling the fertility
rate among women in the fringe of Bilaspur. From the
table no 7 it is clear that maximum number of mothers
belong to nuclear family. In India as the trend of formation
of nuclear family has taken tremendous impetus the
women are getting better opportunity in their life and but
from the table both 7 and 8 it is clear the illiterate women
have more number of issues than literate and they mostly
belong to nuclear family. Now an attempt could be taken
to correlate the mother’s education and fertility behavior.
We generally see the higher educated women are
capable of taking independent decision about taking
child. They are conscious about their health, economical
conditions and social facts than the illiterate women. In
rural sector many women are bound to leave the
education in early stage due to many social problems. It
is widely accepted that education makes women
conscious and up to some extant independent regarding
bearing offspring and our study has a reflection that
illiterate mothers are having more issues than others.
One the causes may be that in order to support the family
rural women use to take many children as a helping
hand.
Goswami 165
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The overall findings of this study varying fertility in
surroundings seem to be the result of the level of
development in and around the fringe and the risk
perceptions among the peoples. The findings illustrate
that the social, biological, economic, spatial and cultural
factors together determine the fertility behaviour of
certain groups. But more than that, their perception of
‘risk factors’ influences their fertility decision-making
directly. Though the diffusion mechanism and imitation
factor are largely relevant, its impact varies considerably
across communities and geographical locations. The
level of fertility is still high among the group in spite of the
changing attitudes of the people. As the women in these
area enjoys long period of fertility population growth must
occur rapidly. The study therefore indicates the need to
re-orientate the views of people towards achieving a
lower fertility in the rural communities through such
measures as incentive giving, education and extension of
family planning programmes to the rural areas. The study
also reflects inadequate literacy level among the mothers
which has a direct relation with the ascending rate of
literacy. During field work it is felt that family planning
measures and awareness campaigning mechanism is not
adequately effective. From the above study it is clear that
one of the inevitable direct consequences of
demographic transition, as we have discussed, would be
a change in the age composition of national population
that would shift its share from the young to the elderly.
These changes in age structure have very important
demographic, socio-economic and health implications.
The need for goods and services, such as jobs, housing,
social economic support, health etc. would also undergo
changes. Accompanying such changes are also the
increase in urbanization, nuclearization of family, greater
mobility of child (ren), and psychological support in old
age. This would usher in unprecedented change in socioeconomic condition. The study reveals many cases of unadult marriage (below 15 years for women) which is
alarming particularly in theses area. The study shows
that in the age group 40-44 the mother child ratio is 3.87
which indicates that mother in this area enjoys a long
period fertility and also indicates the ability of
reproduction for long span of time. Forecasting the future
is certainly risky! There is always the danger that one will
be swept along by the herd. The thrust of this piece has
been that a consideration of future fertility trends in fringe
area should really be conducted at the village level time
to time. And I have shown that, other things equal, a
micro level approach to the formulation of fertility
assumptions for population projections leads to a
significantly slower rate of fertility decline than does an
all-state approach. Total fertility is falling in virtually all of
villages. More importantly, any change in the attitude
towards fertility behavior can only be possible if there is a
positive change in the socioeconomic and infrastructural
conditions of rural population.
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How to cite this article: Goswami S (2013). A glimpse on
women’s fertility: A study of fringe of Bilaspur, India. J. Res.
Peace
Gend.
Dev.
3(9):159-165