Despite its many advantages, the employment of women in economic activity in India has been associated with increased mortality for infants and young children. Simultaneously, narrower gender differentials in child mortality among employed women have been noted.

In recent decades, the most common means by which couples regulate fertility have changed from methods requiring control or cooperation by men, e.g., condoms, withdrawal and periodic abstinence, to those for which women bear primary responsibility e.g., virtually all-reversible modern methods.