Demographic Change and Health and Status of Indian Women Kirsty McNay While it has become common to infer the social status of women from their demographic characteristics, it is not easy to read demographic progress in terms of declines in mortality and fertility to make unambiguous judgments about trends in women's social standing. This paper attempts to distinguish the comparative contributions of fertility decline and relative status improvement to trends in maternal mortality in India and presents evidence showing that advancement in women's demographic attainment may not necessarily involve improvement in their health and status.