Is there a need to place birth control under some control?

Joyeeta Dutta Ray, Jakarta

Indonesia has attempted to control its population growth through some novel methods. The latest more mainstream idea is condom dispensing machines. While it is a step to applaud, it also made me wonder. Would the effort really help resolve the issue or just create new ones?

Imagine a youth with raging hormones sprinting across the lush green fields of Java, kite in hand, and bumping headlong into a condom-dispensing machine. What would it lure him to do? Stop him having babies or start him having sex?

The efforts of the government reminded me of the numerous campaigns adopted by my own country, India. The goal has been the same -- to control a population multiplying by the minute. The roads are, interestingly, different.

In the late 1970s, birth control advertisements were splashed all over the billboards of our country. "We are two, let's have two", screamed captions above black and white, deliriously grinning stick figures of four-member families. Well and good, except that one couldn't help but observe that nowhere did the graphics show two children of the same sex. The family was always perfectly balanced with a son and a daughter.

People looked up, read the words and went home to have more babies. Until the family resembled the one on the billboard, perfectly balanced with sons and daughters -- never mind that the number of children exceeded the ones displayed -- people tried their luck. The government threw up its hands in resignation.

In the 1980s, the Hindi Bollywood film industry indirectly championed the happiness of a small family. Bollywood films screened noble parents opting for not more than two kids. There were several versions of this fact.

Twins separated at birth, poor but heroic older brothers with villainous siblings romancing the only, lonely daughter of city slickers. Triplets, quadruplets and families of more than two were strictly ignored, unless they were shown suffering in the depths of poverty, gloom and doom. Girls hailing from small families were pampered and pretty. Men, educated and successful.

It worked somewhat. The smart, middle-class people got the point, went home and stopped multiplying mindlessly. The poor and uneducated grossly missed the point and went home to try their luck on romancing only, lonely daughters of city slickers. Eve teasing and rape registered an alarming increase. By the 1990s, the population of India passed the 900 million mark. The government was at its wit's end.

The advertising industry then decided to take matters into their cuff-linked hands. After extensive market research, they identified the root of the problem. It was not just a desire for male children or a perfectly balanced family with sons and daughters or the widespread rape and molestation that existed in society but, to get down to basics, a simple lack of protection. Men preferred pleasure to condoms and disregarded them.

Stick figures of parents with two children on billboards were erased and replaced by real-life photos of sultry, unmarried, 20- somethings in the throes of passion, flaunting condoms of all textures, colors and flavors. The laws of theKamasutra were for the world to see.

The masses finally sat up and took notice. Sales of condoms skyrocketed. Accidents -- resulting from distracted drivers concentrating on billboards rather than roads -- escalated alongside. Unfortunately, accidents from malfunctioning condoms were also reported, usually too late. In the year 2000, the population of India crossed the one billion mark.

"Catch them young. Educate them from the grass roots!" was the verdict. The deed was done. Grade five kids were taught the importance of sex education and the difficulties stemming from large families.

Today, children are wiser, bolder and date younger. The population continues to grow at an alarming rate. The government remains puzzled.

Where have we gone wrong? Are we genetically just more fertile than the rest of the world?

Controlling the population of a country of millions is truly a daunting task. In countries where democracy is the call of the day, it is twice as difficult. Orders cannot be imposed. Only requests made. In 1977, the Congress government under prime minister Indira Gandhi attempted to enforce strict family planning measures including the promotion of vasectomies. It was a grave mistake. That year, the opposition party won by a landslide victory. The birth rate remained untoppled.

While the government needs to be applauded for all attempts it makes, it is also important to identify the root of the issue and take things from there.

In male-dominated societies such as India and Indonesia, some of the ruling issues are the desire to have a male child to carry on the family name and to produce several children so that they may support their aging parents later. Therein lies the problem.

The government needs to realize that while condoms can offer some relief, they only address part of the problem. Before condoms are distributed, the inequality between the sexes needs to be addressed. Only when men start respecting women will couples be happy with the sex of their babies and stop yearning for more. If the family is small, it spells better education for the child and consequently, better work prospects in the long run.

Women have come into their own today. They earn for the family, manage the house, give birth and raise kids, care for aging family members, and most importantly, do everything without thrashing anyone in the process. It's time society recognized the powers of the gentler sex.

A condom dispenser is well and good. How about pill-vending machine or condoms for women next?

The writer is a freelance writer.