7. Women’s and gender history in modern india: researching the past, reflecting on the present

Sreenivas, Mytheli

doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814758908.003.0007

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We argue that Rau and Sanger, greatly influenced by dominant neo-Malthusian and eugenics ideas, used the rhetoric of improving the health of mother and child only to further their agenda of population control. They were obsessed with demographic targets that were to be achieved through controlling women’s bodies (Sreenivas, 2021). Further, we see that the organisation of international conferences, largely as a gathering of individuals primarily inspired by the ideas of eugenics and neo-Malthusianism, led to an institutionalisation of this dominant viewpoint in an understanding of the population issue.…”

Section: Rau and Sanger: Global Alliances For Population Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay famously questioned the neo-Malthusian understanding of the population question, denying India was ‘overpopulated’. She argued for contraception to break the shackles of patriarchy, liberating women from marriage and compulsory motherhood (Sreenivas, 2021). However, a few AIWC members persistently championed the cause of contraception and birth control for neo-Malthusian reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Population Control and Eugenics: Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in the Making of India’s Family Planning Programme, 1930s–1960s

Parmar,

Rao

2023

Indian Journal of Gender Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article explores the contribution of two pioneering women, Dhanvanthi Rama Rau and Margaret Sanger in shaping the official Family Planning Programme (FPP) of India. Rau, popularly known as the ‘Mother of India’s Family Planning’, was at the forefront of the debates on birth control. From the early twentieth century, Rau was in correspondence with Margaret Sanger—eugenist and the messiah of medicalised birth control from the United States of America (USA). Based on archival collections from various libraries in India and the USA, this article attempts to explore the concerns of Rau and Sanger in raising questions about population control 1 and family planning in India. The concern of improving the health of mothers and children was, for them, a scaffolding on which to build the agenda of population control. As their advocacy of contraception was shaped by eugenic 2 and neo-Malthusian ideas, they were successful in institutionalising a programme of family planning that called for an immediate reduction in the birth rate. This was to be achieved through gendered population control policies and practices.

show abstract

Section: Rau and Sanger: Global Alliances For Population Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%