Culture: A Barrier to Family Planning in the Khasi Society
By Erica Kharsyntiew
Culture is the heart and soul of every society all over the world. It plays an important role in determining the shape of society as well as the lives of people belonging to that particular society. This paper attempts to show the influence that culture has on the Khasi society particularly on making family planning decisions. Not only does culture play a part, but religion as well. This is a society that has one of the highest fertility rates in India. One of the reasons behind this, maybe the influence of culture and religion. The results show that the couples are encouraged to continue to procreate because the survival of the society and the family is heavily dependent on the birth of a girl child. This paper attempts to show how society and religion affects reproduction and the attitudes towards adopting proper reproductive health care practices.