Family planning in Pune: No male sterilisation, but 43.3% of women surveyed underwent procedure

Although male sterilisation is much safer and quicker than female sterilisation, the wrong perceptions have often pushed the responsibility on women

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), in Pune district, male sterilisation accounted for 0% of the total family planning methods used while female sterilisation accounted for 43.3% of the total family planning methods used in 2019-20, which brings to the fore the disproportionate burden on women vis-à-vis men when it comes to sterilisation. Although male sterilisation is much safer and quicker than female sterilisation, the wrong perceptions have often pushed the responsibility on women. Earlier in 2015-16, female sterilisation accounted for 55.5% of the total family planning methods used.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), in Pune district, male sterilisation accounted for 0% of the total family planning methods used while female sterilisation accounted for 43.3% of the total family planning methods used in 2019-20. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The first phase of the fifth round of the NFHS was carried out between June 2019 and January 2020, and the results were released in December 2020. A few days ago, centres released a detailed analysis of the key results from the second phase carried out between January 2020 and April 2021.

The stigma associated with male sterilisation that it could lead to physical weakness is the main reason why men do not come forward, said Dr Kalapana Apta, general secretary of the family planning association (FPA). “The disproportionate burden on women to undergo sterilisation is forced at times as men fail to take the responsibility. After going through the biological process of bearing the child in her womb for months, the woman is still forced to undergo the operation because the man simply refuses to share the responsibility of family planning.”

Avlokita Mane, president of the Pune branch of the FPA, said, “In the past six months, we have carried out about 18 vasectomies. However, this is after the massive health campaigns that we conducted over the months in which we also convinced people to undergo non-scalpel vasectomies that are carried out in under four minutes. By contrast, we have had women walking nine miles to undergo the operation as men do not prioritise this and so, women have to undergo the operation. However, we have also had men who were willing to undergo the operation but could not undertake it because of their other ailments like hypertension or even urinary tract infection which renders them unfit to undergo the operation. Sometimes we even end up convincing the family to have the man undergo the operation because the woman thinks this might make the man, who is the sole breadwinner of the family, weak.”