Perspectives from demography

"Births and deaths, marriage and divorce, contraception and abortion, family size and composition, education and illiteracy, employment and unpaid Labour at home : (these) were the materials of demography and they were the measurable components of how women were faring in comparison with men and with women of other classes, other places, other times. Most important, (these) analyses had policy implications…"

Women's position in a given society is closely linked with its prevalent demographic trends. Just as demographic attributes such as early marriage, early motherhood, high morbidity and low literacy levels can affect their progress towards empowerment, women's agency and empowerment too can influence demographic outcomes such as fertility patterns, infant mortality rates and child sex ratios. Quite often, a specific demographic feature reveals a radical aspect of women’s over-all status in society, such as the female-male ratio in India's population, a sign of persistent female disadvantage. This chapter, therefore, looks at the situation of women in West Bengal from a broad demographic perspective.

Regarding Aspects of Demography