The majority of women in Mumbai do not have a say in deciding when to have a baby, the size of their family or the type of contraception to use. In other words, their reproductive life is dictated by their families, according to the findings of a Cidco survey. The report revealed that only 33.2 percent of the surveyed women decided on their reproductive rights. “The present survey shows that about a third of women have felt they have reproductive rights,” the survey said. The remaining 66.8 percent followed the decisions made by men on having a child, the space between two children, the use of contraceptives, and such others. There is a great variation across nodes as well. While 58 percent of women in Kharghar said they took their own decisions, only one percent women in Dronagri replied in the affirmative. Approximately 48 percent women in Jui Kamothe took their own decisions, while the figure for New Panvel was 11 percent. Even in Vashi – the oldest and the most urbanized center – only 41 percent women took their own decisions. Experts said the failure to allow women to exercise their rights has led to a poor child sex ratio as well. A Cidco official blamed the lower ratio on test centres that have come up as part of urbanization. Gynaecologists attributed the bias to the “ingrained conditioning that one should have a male child.” The 2011 national population census has said that in the case of Thane district, the urban child sex ratio for females has fallen from 915 (2001 census) to 905, and for rural areas, from 966 to 953. In case of Raigad district, the ratio in urban areas has fallen from 914 to 903, and in rural areas, from 946 to 937. While Airoli to Belapur in Navi Mumbai come under Thane district, Kharghar, Panvel and Dronagri are under Raigad district. The Cidco survey said, “The ability of women to control their own fertility is absolutely fundamental to women's empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her life. When she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive rights-including the right to decide the number , timing and spacing of her children, and to make decisions regarding reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence-are promoted and protected, she has the freedom to participate fully and equally in society.” The survey also states that around 30 percent of working women have a say in their reproductive rights. BM
