The article, Pushing Indian Women Toward Sterilization, Business Week, June 24, 2013, is a narrative of a growing movement in India wherein the Government is extending incentives to doctors and women themselves for having a sterilization procedure performed that cuts and ties their fallopian tubes. The goal is obvious -- to slow population growth. The article's primary purpose is to expose the unsafe conditions and unethical methods associated with this growing movement; however, the author's nonchalant approach and lack of descriptive data to support it lends to the article falling short of its full potential.
Data presented was gathered from the Census of India. The purpose of the data analysis was to show the percentage of sterilizations of women aged 15-49 world wide. Data was used primarily for a visualization to show the significant percentage of sterilizations in India (37%) as compared to the other areas of the world utilizing a histogram. The Histogram data focuses on the data grouping by continent except in the case of China, which also depicts a significant percentage of sterilizations (~33%).
Additionally, a pictorial image of India is shown to represent the number of female sterilizations by state. This graphic further adds statistical information showing the ratio of literacy to population growth in two regions - indicating a direct correlation between higher literacy and slower population growth. My impression is that the supplemental data was added to suggest that perhaps the government should consider the correlation between literacy and population in its control efforts; although, the author does not expand whatsoever on this data any further. This data is extraneous and somewhat irrelevant tot he overall purpose of the article in focusing on the unethical methods and unsafe conditions.
This article gave me a new perspective on the use of statistics for shock value and distraction. As depicted, the data points to seemingly alarming or important issues; however, the corresponding narrative doesn't do it justice. Furthermore, the real issue in this article isn't the necessarily high sterilization rate in India, nor is it the obvious correlation between literacy and slowed population growth which isn't being exploited by the government as emphasized. The real issue and focus of this article is the manner in which the sterilization movement is taking shape. Women are being victimized not only by the government, but by their spouses as well. Women are being turned into numbers to meet an arbitrary quota system established by the government to implement an easy method to control population growth. Women are being manipulated and exploited based on their economic standing, and devalued in the process by the poor means of patient care. Statistical data showing infection rates caused by the unsafe conditions, a ratio of women "incentivized" into having the procedure with a lack of or misleading information, or a cost comparison of the sterilization movement (i.e. doctor payments, patient payments, medical care costs, etc.) vs. a cost analysis of implementing education and literacy programs would better depict the severity of the issue at hand, and give a much broader, shocking perspective than the data utilized.
This article grabbed my attention because of the subject matter; namely, women in India. Having visited India twice in my military travels, I am fascinated by vast dichotomy and idiosyncrasies of the culture. This article touches a nerve as a woman, but also taps into my compassion for the poverty and desperate circumstances that lead women to pursue these procedures.
When all is said and done, I'm left wondering what the author was truly trying to accomplish in writing this article. The issue deserves greater visibility and attention than was given therein.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-20/inside-indias-female-sterilization-camps
Andrew MacAskill, "Pushing Indian Women Toward Sterilization." BusinessWeek, 20 June 2013. 18-19. Print.
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