Two-child family norm: womens attitude in Uttar Pradesh.

People in India are reluctant to minimize their family size and hence the average family size remains around five children. However the ideal number of children desired by women is 2.9 which clearly indicates the pitfalls in the family planning programme in bridging the gap between the ideal and the actual family size. This gap varies according to the socio-economic status of the states. For instance in Kerala the gap between the ideal and the actual family size is 1.2 while the gap in Uttar Pradesh is around three children. The Government of India has made a move to propagate the one-child family norm. Although the implementation of this effort has been marked with skepticism the concern regarding the reduction in the family size is praiseworthy It is necessary to examine the attitude of the people towards the two-child family norm before having state-specific population policies. Keeping this in view this paper attempts to understand womens attitude towards the "two-child norm and examine and analyse the reasons for disapproving the two-child family norm in Uttar Pradesh. (excerpt)