Two sons and a daughter: sex composition and women's reproductive behaviour in Madhya Pradesh, India.

This article examines how the sex composition of women's current children at the start of a pregnancy interval influences both fertility desires and the full range of reproductive actions women may take to realize them, including temporary contraception, abortion and sterilization, in Madhya Pradesh, India, where popular notions of ideal family size and sex composition are dominated by son preference. The analysis is conducted using a dataset of 9127 individual pregnancy intervals from a 2002 statewide representative survey of 2444 women aged 15-39 with at least one child. The results indicate that women's preferences go beyond a singular preference for male children, with the preferred composition of children being two boys and one girl.

'If your husband calls, you have to go': understanding sexual agency among young married women in urban South India.

Background: Early marriage is common in many developing countries, including India. Women who marry early have little power within their marriage, particularly in the sexual domain. Research is limited on women's ability to control their marital sexual experiences.

Son preference and sterilisation use among young married women in two slums in Bengaluru city, India.

This paper explores the ways in which women's sterilisation decisions are influenced by the combination of a preference for male children and a desire for smaller family size among young married women in two urban slums in Bengaluru, India. While both son preference and an emphasis on sterilisation are well-known demographic characteristics of most South Asian countries, relatively little research has been conducted that links the two. We take advantage of a longitudinal survey of 416 unsterilised married women aged 16-25 to explore how having sons and the number of children influence a woman's sterilisation decision.

Potential role of traditional birth attendants in neonatal healthcare in rural southern Nepal.

The potential for traditional birth attendants (TBAs) to improve neonatal health outcomes has largely been overlooked during the current debate regarding the role of TBAs in improving maternal health. Randomly-selected TBAs (n=93) were interviewed to gain a more thorough understanding of their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding maternal and newborn care. Practices, such as using a clean cord-cutting instrument (89%) and hand-washing before delivery (74%), were common.

Challenging assumptions about women's empowerment: social and economic resources and domestic violence among young married women in urban South India.

Background: Although considerable research has documented the widespread prevalence of spousal violence in India, little is known about specific risk or protective factors. This study examines the relationships between factors that are often considered to be social and economic resources for women and recent occurrence of domestic violence.

Methods: Data were collected from 744 young married women in slum areas of Bangalore, India.