PrimoPDF, Job 2 - PRC

17with the age at sterilization recorded by the interviewer. The ages obtained by the twosources matched for 76 percent of the interviewed acceptors. For 17 percent of the cases,age recorded in case card was higher by 2-3 years than the field data and age recorded in thecase card was lower by 2-4 years for 7 percent of the acceptors.6.2 Age at marriageAge at marriage has also been found to influence fertility levels, age at acceptance,use of family planning and method choice. As per the child marriage Restraint Act of 1978,the minimum age at marriage in India is 18 years for women and 21 years for men. In thisregard Table:3 shows that one-fourth of sterilised women got married when they werebelow the legal age at marriage. Similarly 17 percent of males of sterilised women hadmarried when they were below age 20. More than one half of the men and women marriedwhen they were between age 20-24. Further analysis of the data on age at marriage showsthat age at marriage has considerably increased for the younger cohorts.6.3 Marital StatusAll the women who had accepted the method were currently married at the time ofacceptance, however, at the time of the survey one of the acceptors was a widowed as herhusband had died only a few months back.6.4 OccupationThe data was also collected regarding the work status of the acceptors. Sincemajority of these women belonged to the rural areas, therefore, majority of them (76percent) participated in agricultural related work. Only one of the acceptors was agovernment employee and 22 percent did not participate in work other than their regularhousework.6.5 EducationTable 5 also presents the distribution of sterilized women by the highest level ofeducation attained. Almost half of the acceptors (49 percent) are illiterate and only 16