Addressing Gender-Based Constraints in Youth Reproductive Health: Experiences and Behaviors about Infertility among Young Couples in Rural Maharashtra, India

collaboration with the Maharashtra state government and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), conducted a study of infertile couples in rural Maharashtra in response to community demands that something be done about the lack of infertility knowledge and services. This study, which also provided infertility counseling services, is part of a larger FRHS intervention research program The role of gender: Gender norms exacerbate the stress of examining the role of community mobilization and infertility for both men and women, though women bear a government services in increasing the use of reproductive heavier psychological and social burden. In a society where a health services by young married women. Its findings are being woman's status depends on her bearing children, being labeled used to train state and local government health providers who “infertile” condemns her to a disgraced life. Women, even if counsel, treat and make referrals for young couples with legally married, are not considered legitimate wives if they fail fertility concerns. to conceive. Further, women who are perceived as infertile are not invited to certain festivities and social occasions, such as naming or religious ceremonies. Gender norms in India also mean that a woman is not deemed “fertile” until she gives birth “Infertility” is medically defined as failure to conceive after two to a male child. Thus, some couples in infertility counseling to three years of intercourse without contraception. Qualitative had children but only daughters, and they sought assistance in data show that study couples defined infertility as failure to conceiving a male child. Finally, women were largely held conceive as early as the first months of marriage or failing to responsible for a couple's inability to bear children or to bear conceive a male child. FRHS measured such perceived male children. Young women's lack of power to counter these infertility to understand fertility concerns in couples' socioinequalities often led to increased disharmony within cultural context. marriage.