Is Family Planning Still Considered A Woman's Responsibility?

India’s soaring population is not an unknown fact. In 2022, India’s population stands at 1.412 billion which is expected to rise in 2023 enough to surpass China, thus making us the most populous country in the world. Out population has been a matter of discussion for decades now, with introspection on its impact on our living standards, both on a societal and familial level. But when it comes to population control, men gently slip from the scrutiny.

But according to a recent report of the National Family Health Survey, the responsibility of family planning is imposed on women alone. It is women who resort to using methods like contraceptives for family planning, but why? Why do men hesitate so much in sharing the responsibility of family planning? Why are women held responsible in both cases of rising and controlling the population?

The NFHS-5 of 2019-2021 shows that female sterilisation is the most popular form of contraception used by couples. While 38 percent of women use the sterilisation method, only 10 percent of men use condoms for family planning. More than 35 percent of men believe that contraception and family planning is a woman’s business and that men should not worry about it. In fact in Punjab, 77 percent of men share this belief.

Moreover imposing abortion as a birth control method and not as a right of women's right to choose motherhood further proves the point that the country as a whole also considers that family planning is not a man's responsibility.

Suggested Reading: Unmarried Indian Women Deserve Access To Safe Abortions

Reasons why family planning is imposed on women

The major reason behind this is the fact that women are the submissive partners in &t=3s">marriage and are hence expected to undergo all sorts of pain, changes and contraception. Moreover, men are never expected to worry about family planning because using contraceptive methods is touted to diminish their masculinity. Men often dismiss using condoms because it makes sex less pleasurable for them and sterlisation, on the other hand, is still seen as a threat to a man's virility.

Men do not feel responsible for protecting women from STDs or unwanted pregnancies because they prioritise their pleasure.

In our society, women are submissive partners but they are also said to be mature partners in relationships. Because of this imposed maturity, women are expected to take care of family planning.

Moreover, family planning is considered a domestic duty that women have to fulfil in order to ensure welfare of their family. Family planning affects both inner and outer aspects of a couple’s life. If the family is not planned, men will have to work hard twice as much to provide for the increasing population at home. While women have to do unpaid labour, men will be doubly pressurised to give an equal amount of investment to every kid born in the family. For this reason alone, men need to see family planning as a shared responsibility.

When will society realise that a woman is an individual and not machines to produce children that have on and off buttons? When will society stop treating women just as a body that can be forced through any changes without worrying about the side effects or their health?

Sex is not just for pleasure, procreation is an integral part of it. It's a package deal. So if men want pleasure they need to take accountability as well. In fact, both pleasure and family planning should be a mutual benefit and responsibility in a marriage between equals.

Views expressed are the author's own.