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Women's use of contraception in rural India:

2001; Elsevier BV; Volume: 7; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s1353-8292(01)00009-0

1873-2054

Elizabeth Chacko,

Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

This paper examines the determinants of contraceptive use among married women in four villages in rural West Bengal, India. It uses primary quantitative data obtained from a survey of 600 women and qualitative data derived from ethnographic methods. Bi- and multi-variate analyses demonstrate that the factors that most influence a woman's use of contraception include her age, the number of living sons she has, and her religious affiliation. The study also shows that the availability and quality of permanent village-based government health care affects the use of modern contraception. The use of temporary family planning methods is negligible in the area.