Poor Sex Ratio in India: A Cause of Concern
Aug 5th, 2009 | By Sayan | Category: ArticlesYou can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women. – Jawaharlal Nehru
“A curious case recently came to light in Jandli Kalan village of Haryana’s Fatehabad district. One Nathu Ram was to marry Geeta. His sister was to marry Geeta’s maternal uncle on the same day. But Geeta’s father complained to the deputy commissioner of police that his daughter was just 15 years old. He said his wife and her family had conspired to marry her off in order that his brother-in-law get a bride under the ‘barter system’. The authorities swooped down on Jandli Kalan village and stopped the wedding, but the family had a contingency plan. They produced Geeta’s cousin Savitri as a replacement bride. But she turned out to be a minor as well. Under pressure, Geeta’s relatives frantically searched for a bride within the extended family and finally found a 20-year-old.” – Times of India, 2nd Aug 2009.
Image Source : UNICEF
The sex ratio in Haryana at present is 866 females/ 1000 males as compared to the national average of 933 females/ 1000 males. Another astonishing fact is that in the 0-6 years age group the ratio is 618 females/ 1000 males (courtesy Times of India). On an humorous note just think about the 382 males of the 1000, what will they do when they reach a marriageable age?
Are these facts in sync with the Indian growth story?
Sex ratio is an important parameter that reflects the status of woman in a society. Let’s just compare the sex ratios of some developed countries with that of India to prove the point. The sex ratio of the US and UK is 952 females/ 1000 males, Japan has 952 females/ 1000 males (http://www.indexmundi.com), where as India is lagging far behind at 933 females/ 1000 males and the states like Haryana or Punjab are still farther.
Sex ratio at birth has emerged as an indicator of certain kinds of sex discrimination in some countries. For instance, low female to male ratios at birth in these states can be attributed to sex-selective abortion and infanticide due to a strong preference for sons. This will affect future marriage patterns and fertility patterns. Eventually, it could cause unrest among young adult males who are unable to find partners.
While women in the West had to fight for over a century to get some of their basic rights, like the right to vote, the Constitution of India gave women equal rights with men from the beginning. Unfortunately, women in this country are mostly unaware of their rights because of illiteracy and the oppressive tradition.
However the picture is not as gloomy as it seems for India and there are some positive indications too like:
· India has the world’s largest number of professionally qualified women.
· India has more female doctors, surgeons, scientists and professors than the United States.
· India has more working women than any other country in the world. This includes female workers at all levels of skill – from the surgeon and the airline pilot to bus conductors and menial labourers.
One thing is very clear that we simply cannot progress if we leave our women behind. If the states likes Haryana want to be a part of the Indian growth story they have no other way but to improve the status of their women by perhaps providing education to the girl child, quotas for women in both private and public sectors (this will help them to earn and thereby not be dependent on others for their well-being), taking very stringent action against those who give/take dowry etc.
Lastly, one must also spare a thought for the 382 males when they reach the marriageable age as there won’t be any women left for them to marry.
Skewed sex ratio in this country is not a new issue. Personally, I would not like to think for those remaining “382 males” on attaining marriageable age because this is where the problem to the issue is. Women must not be viewed singularly as a ‘procreation’ machine or in other words ‘matches for catches’. The sex ratio is important for various other issues that would automatically be linked up with increased skewness of sex ratios.
Census data have often provided detailed mappings of these variations, both within countries and across social groups. These disparities suggest how gender discrimination is related to social and economic factors, and also how it may propagate in the future towards new parts of the population. One striking feature is that there are also areas within affected countries in Asia where sex-ratio levels have remained absolutely normal, as both detailed maps for China and India show. In China, large patches of the country towards the West display ‘sex ratio at birth’ values below 105. Similarly, a large share of India, from Kerala to West Bengal as well as the Northeastern states reports levels of child sex ratio that appears almost unaffected by sex discrimination. At the same time, there are many “hot spots” of high sex ratio in both India and China. These are orientated towards the Western border of India, with states such Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana displaying values close to or greater than 120.
There has been a statistically significant decline in the ratio of male to female births in several industrialized countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States, that cannot be attributed to known factors. Parallel declines have also been reported in Sweden, Germany, Norway and Finland. Birth defects of the male reproductive tract and diseases such as testicular cancer have also increased in some industrialized countries, possibly associated with exposure to certain environmental compounds. The downward trends in sex ratio may not have a benign cause. Occupational and community exposures to pesticides and dioxin have been linked with declines in sex ratio in a number of studies. The reduction in the proportion of males born may be a sentinel health indicator that some, as yet, unrecognized environmental health hazards are affecting both sex ratio and the other unexplained defects in male reproduction (Davis, Gottlieb and Stampnitzky, 1998).
We recognise here the emergence of a new demographic regime of gender discrimination, in which male dominance is much more pronounced among the young (including the unborn) than it was in the past. While progress in life expectancy among adults has now significantly increased women’s advantage above age 40 in most Asian countries, an opposite mechanism is also at work among children. The fact that the child sex ratio has unexpectedly increased is going to influence the entire population over the coming decades: the entire population will gradually grow increasingly more masculine in their make-up, as the new generations born after the 1980s grow older.
Asia is particularly intriguing because, although overall childhood mortality has continuously declined, the relative plight of girls has in some cases worsened over time. In most countries in the world, female mortality among children is only 80 per cent of that of male children. But mapping such values for Asia shows that this mortality ratio tends to increase as we approach a “central” region extending from India to China. In the latter country, estimates correspond to record values above 140 per cent, meaning that mortality among girls is 40 per cent greater than that of boys, when it should be instead 20 per cent lower. Excess female mortality among children is closely related to early discriminatory behaviour, a phenomenon usually summarised as the “neglect of girls”. The lack of proper care extended to girls vis-à-vis boys is visible, for instance, through survey data on breastfeeding according to the sex of the child: girls are often breastfed less often, or over a shorter period of time, than boys. Similarly, parents are more likely to bring their male children to health centres, especially to private physicians, or to bring them earlier in case of serious illness. Immunisation coverage is also systematically better for boys than for their sisters. Food allocation within the household, albeit difficult to capture in surveys, is also shown to be in favour of boys in many settings. All of these factors combine to increase disproportionably mortality rates for girls.
very informative article..
after reading this article i felt that there are less number of women in india in comperision to devaloped countries. less facilitiies are given to indian women but in these conditions indian women is doing well. As it is written in the article that india is having the biggest number of female doctors surgens and engineers. in this case we can see the strength of indian women. It is the result of WOMEN EMPOWERMENT.If we see our old india then we find in past the condition of women was very poor, there was a male dominated socity in India which was very very fanatic there was no freedom and respect for women.
After the independence the revolutionary changes took place and time witnessed the excellent progress of indian women. We got many women who did a huge change in India. Present senario is the show of strength and determination of indian women. but stil there there are some problems and we need to overcome from these hurdles for a bright future
true…girl child must b protected!
true…girl child must b protected at all costs!