Status of Women, Decision-Making and Fertility Behaviour

The concept of status of women is a complex factor which has several dimensions. Women empowerment when encouraged will affect not only women's autonomy but also will increase their worth participation in family decision making including reproductive decisions. Women's decision making play an important role in determining her reproductive health and fertility bhaviour. Fertility control like most other family decisions is not always an individual affair but involved co-operation, discussions and joint decision making among couples. This article is an attempt to explore the relationship between women's decision making and fertility behavior among working and non-making women of 15-49 years in Tirupati town of Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh. Results from the data presented in this paper confirmed that the changing roles of the women in the society through education and employment will increase their status in the home as well as in society which inturn reduces their fertility.