Census: More married women go out for work than unmarried women

41 per cent married women go out for work in comparison to 27 per cent of unmarried women.

New Delhi, Dec 19 More married women in comparison to unmarried women go out for work in the country and such working ladies seem to prefer to have less children than those who are married but not working. According to the 2011 Census data, released recently, in the child-bearing age group, 41 per cent married women go out for work in comparison to 27 per cent of unmarried women.

Interestingly, half of the married women in rural areas work while in urban areas just 22 per cent go out for jobs. In urban areas, fertility rates have dropped drastically with women main workers having just two children on an average compared to 3.1 for their rural counterparts. The total fertility rate or average number of children born to a woman over her full child-bearing years has dipped to 2.9 for working women from 3.3 a decade ago.

On the other hand, the fertility rate is higher at 3.1 among non-workers -- marginally down from 3.2 in 2001. In both cases, the sex ratio of children born in the last year is falling, but more so among working women — from 912 girls against 1000 boys in 2001 to 901 girls among 1000 boys in 2011.

Among non-workers, the sex ratio of children born to them fell from 901 girls against 1000 boys to 894 girls against 1000 boys. Marginal workers — women who have irregular or casual jobs for less than six months in a year — show that the fertility rate is still high among them at 3.4 though down from 3.7 a decade ago.

But the sex ratio has slightly improved from 911 girls against 1000 boys in 2001 to 914 girls against 1000 boys in 2011. Side by side, sex ratio among rural women has suffered a decline from 936 girls against 1000 boys to 906 girls against 1000 boys for them, the biggest decline among all economic groups.

PTI