August 31st, 2004

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Sex
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Project Small Family

Following hard upon (hee, hee) the rampant mis-use of condoms by Indians, we find (via Sexblo.gs, which, obviously, isn’t remotely safe for work) Project Small Family. Here’s a poorly-worded description:

PSF is open to young women in the age group between 18 and 35, who are willing to show up once in three months and be checked for being pregnancy-free. If found free, they are paid at the rate of Rs.250 per month. It sounds simplistic until you dig deep into its potential as a revolutionary idea. The idea has been at work since April 2003, in Seoni and Chhindwara districts of MP covering about 300 women.

Now, 250 rupees gets you about CAN $7. Of course, 86.2% of the population earns under CAN $3/day, so that’s a significant addition to their monthly income. I certainly prefer this approach to China’s ham-fisted one-family, one-child plan.

As has been discussed previously, this is a relatively short-term crisis. India and China’s population growth will likely level off as they develop.

Comments: 2 Responses so far

Andrea
August 31st, 2004
3:30 pm

Interesting. But providing women with financial incentives will only help them if they actually get to keep the money — in some cultures, husbands/partners/fathers would take the money away. In fact, that’s why Canadian family allowance was paid directly to mothers for many years, so that there was money for milk and shoes for children.
In many countries where the pregnancy-poverty cycles persists, women have very few rights and little education. If we consider the spread of AIDS, it’s obvious that a woman’s ability to refuse sexual activity is often limited; I’d imagine this problem continues in family planning. Providing financial incentives won’t help women stand up to child marriage, abuse, chattel laws, or other oppression. And that’s often a factor in poverty and overpopulation.

As well, in many countries, a woman’s status in the community depends on the number of children she has, although pursuing education is often seen as a respectful alternative. Although numbers vary, fertility rates drop by 7 to 10% for each year of schooling a woman completes. Paying women to remain childless may also result in problems, since many families depend on their children’s free labour and support for parents in old age — I note that the Project Small Family funding ends at age 35. The program might be better to support women’s rights, education, and pension plans! Beyond education, support for breastfeeding can help with reducing disease, poverty, and fertility.

[Reply]

donna
September 1st, 2004
12:11 am

damn, I wish we had something like that here. I wouldn’t mind an extra few days pay every month.

[Reply]

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