It is now common practice to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics. Yet it is not so easy to read through demographic progress, in terms of declines in mortality and fertility, to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing.

Status literally means position in relation to others. The status enjoyed by women in any society is an index of the standard of its social organisation.

The necessity of controlling the growth of population in Bangladesh was seriously recognized as early as 1965 when a large-scale national family planning program was initiated in erstwhile Pakistan A.