Negotiating Collective and Individual Agency: A Qualitative Study of Young Women’s Reproductive Health in Rural India
Outcomes: Sexual and Reproductive Health
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways The study highlights that young women’s ability to exercise reproductive agency is tightly linked to the social norms and collective expectations governing their bodies and choices. Programs that only target women risk reinforcing the very power structures they aim to challenge; instead, interventions must engage families, communities, and healthcare systems to reduce stigma, open space for conversations about contraception, and support women’s autonomy over their reproductive lives.
Objectives This study explored how young women in rural Rajasthan, India, navigate reproductive decision-making and exercise agency over fertility choices within the tight constraints of social expectations, collective family influence, and limited access to contraceptive services.
Methods Researchers conducted 24 in-depth qualitative interviews with 19 married women aged 18–24, using thematic analysis guided by Bandura’s agentic perspective and Foucault’s micro-level power dynamics. The study investigated women’s perceptions of reproductive choices, contraception, and abortion within the context of family, caste, and community norms.
Results The study found that while many young women had personal reproductive intentions — like spacing or limiting pregnancies — they often relied on abortions rather than modern contraception due to taboos around sex without reproductive intent and fears about contraceptive side effects or social judgment. Women used traditional methods like abstinence or timing sex, but these were often ineffective or difficult to negotiate with husbands. Abortions were widely accepted and tactically used to manage unintended pregnancies, sometimes with the support of husbands or mothers-in-law. However, women’s ability to make autonomous reproductive choices was consistently constrained by collective family expectations and the stigma attached to modern contraceptive use.
Conclusions Despite the appearance of individual agency, young women’s reproductive decisions were largely shaped and limited by social norms, family power structures, and the narrow range of socially acceptable methods of fertility control. To meaningfully support young women’s reproductive health, health systems must address the underlying social taboos around contraception, improve access to non-judgmental contraceptive services, and work to shift community-level attitudes.
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