Women as Population Agents
Religious leaders in India do their best to outdo one another - not in wisdom, compassion or charity, but in demanding concessions, sticking to outmoded ways of seeing and doing things, generally being intolerant of anything, etc. So, a few years ago, RSS Chief K.S.Sudarshan urged Hindus to have atleast 3 children. Now it is the turn of the Church in Kerala. Alarmed that Christians are having only 1 or 2 children, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council has now said it will support families that have more children.
And what may you ask is the cause of this alarm? The realization that the Christian population in the state has declined by precisely 0.3 percentage points over a 10 year period while that of Muslims has increased in the same period by 1.43 percentage points. (Percentage Data for Kerala state from 1991 and 2001 census below)
| 1991 | 2001 | |
| Hindus | 57.28 | 56.16 |
| Muslims | 23.33 | 24.7 |
| Christians | 19.32 | 19.02 |
| Others | 0.07 | 0.12 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
The motives could be many. A general desire to ‘Save as many souls’ as possible. Fear of dwindling church coffers. Some in the media have even claimed that this is because the Church is facing a shortage of nuns and priests, Kerala being one of the largest contributors of such resources. Fear of one’s community losing its political voice due to lower vote numbers. Whatever be the reason, religious leaders of course conveniently forget, or choose to ignore, that there are WOMEN involved in giving birth to children; they don’t just appear magically.
Women carry these children for 9 months and it is still largely women who take on the task of child rearing. The Church leaders believe that economic reasons are preventing families from having more children. Presto, offering aid will boost up the numbers of the faithful. They are forgetting a number of other reasons!
Kerala is one of the most educated states in the country. It has for long had a highly literate population. Educated families realise that they can focus better on children so long as there are fewer of them. It’s not just a question of money - most parents simply do not have the energy to deal with a large number of kids, especially as families go nuclear, and child raising is no longer shared with many people.
Women want to do other things too. Dear religious men (men, of course), this may be news to you, but many women now do a number of things outside the home. Whether or not they work, they have a number of other interests and activities. Having three or more kids might be great if they just grew up fine themselves, but since it takes a lot of time (and usually women’s time), perhaps you might let families, and especially women, decide on what number suits them?
The Church also forgets that the resources of the Earth are not inexhaustible. Just to keep up with another community’s numbers or make sure that one has a certain numerical strength, if everyone starts adding to the earth’s burden - pretty soon, this country won’t sustain any community at all.
And lastly, dear religious leaders, will you please stop thinking of women’s bodies as public goods to be used for the benefit of any (selfish or not) interests? Wombs are private property, not instruments available for use.
Data Sources: Kerala Census Data 1991, Total Census Data, 2001
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That is just one outrageous request from ‘ religious, learned men’ I have heard.
I think in India, so many people think its their right to decide what is best for you! Leave the family to decide what they want!
Apu: Yes, plus, don’t you think we have enough people to begin with? it’s irresponsible to be telling people to breed more