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Atreyee Sinha and Aparajita Chattopadhyay

areas and around 59% were from rural areas. Proportion of women belonging to poor economic
strata was 58% in the North followed by rich (23%) and middle class (18%). Whereas, in the South
the situation was quite different; proportion of women belonging to upper wealth index was more
(46%) than the poor (29%) and middle class (25%). Regional variation in the components of wom-
en’s empowerment was evident from the results. Women in the South states had higher educational
attainment, mass media exposure, higher mobility and decision making power compared to the
North states. More than half of the women (52.5%) from the South had freedom to go to health facil-
ity unescorted and around 64% women could make decisions on own health care. In the North,
the corresponding values were 36% and 55% respectively.
Levels of MCH care utilization varied across regions where the South states performed better
across all indicators of MCH care. Receipt of all recommended types of ANC for the last live birth
(Figure 2) was higher in the South. Receipt of delivery care (Figure 3) was higher among women in
the South as compared to the women in the North. In the South, 71% women delivered their
last child in a health centre, 22% gave birth to their last surviving child at home assisted by some
trained health personnel and only 7% delivered at home without any trained birth attendant. In the
North the corresponding figure to institutional delivery was disproportionately lower (23.4%). Home
delivery assisted by some trained health personnel was the highest (56.4%) in the North and more
than 20% of women delivered at home without any assistance from trained health personnel. Male
involvement in maternal care (Figure 4) was also found to be higher in the South states compared to
the North. For instance, when in the North 57% of women going for any ANC visit were accompa-
nied by their husbands in the last pregnancy, it was around 73% in the South.
Table 2A presents the level of spousal violence in the two regions and depicts a regional variation
in the experience of spousal violence. More than half (51.6%) of the women in the North states ex-
perienced any form of spousal violence (physical/sexual/emotional) ever in their lives and 39% ex-
perienced so in the last 12 months. The corresponding values were 34% and 26% respectively
among women in the South states. Experience of physical violence was the highest (45.7%) among

Figure 2. Receipt of Full Ante Natal Care by women in North and Figure 3. Types of Delivery Care received by women in North and
South India. South India.

Figure 4. Support received from husband during ANC check-ups in North and South India.

International Journal of Population Studies | 2016, Volume 2, Issue 2 113