Paper short abstract:

Based on semi-structured interviews conducted with two generations of women from central Punjab (Pakistan) in 2010/11, this paper will attempt to investigate transformations in familial power structures by exploring how Punjabi women negotiate their reproduction with their husbands and mothers-in-law during an era of rapid fertility decline in Pakistan.

Paper long abstract:

In extremely patriarchal countries husband's domination over his wife's reproductive behaviour is accepted as 'normative'. In Pakistan, where the extended kinship structures have a strong social power on individuals' choices and decisions, it is also presumed that fertility decisions might go beyond the couples, and mothers-in-law who are at the highest step of the hierarchal relations among women of the household, particularly have significant control over their daughters-in-law's reproductive choices and decisions.

Currently, Pakistan is going through a remarkable demographic phase. The total fertility rate (TFR), which remained stagnant around six to seven children per women during 1970s and 1980s, declined rapidly from 5.4 in 1990/91 to 4.1 in 2006/07. Has there been a change in familial power structures? How do young women negotiate their reproduction as compared to their mothers and mother-in-laws? How do other social developments, particularly increasing schooling of women, influence this negotiation process?

This paper aims at investigating transformations in familial power relations underpinning this fertility decline by exploring how women from two generations negotiate their reproduction with their husbands and mother-in-laws.