Adverse Child Sex Ratios Challenges for Development

1
Adverse Child Sex RatiosChallenges for
Development

• International Workshop on Feminist Economics in
  China and India
• Mary E John

2
The Adverse Child Sex Ratio

• Does the story begin with Amartya Sen?
• Colonial north west India and female infanticide
• 1970s Demographers discover long term declines
  in overall sex ratios correlated with poverty,
  low health and work patterns
• Womens organisations and health activists
  discover abuse of amniocentesis testing for
  foetal abnormalities in 1982

3
The 1990s

• Joint activism by women and health groups results
  in first legislation against sex determination
  testing in Maharashtra in 1986
• 1991 Census data show a decline in both overall
  sex ratio to 927 and CSR (0-6) 945
• But north-western states CSR around 900
• National law to regulate pre-natal diagnostic
  techniques (PNDT Act) 1994

4
A new moment 2001 Census

• For the first time national CSR drops to 927,
  below overall sex ratio (indeed overall sex ratio
  registers a small improvement to 933)
• Huge drops in states in north west India and
  especially in urban areas
• Wide scale adoption of sex selective abortion
  especially through ultrasound
• Also high rates of female child mortality in
  selective areas

5
Problems

• Uneven regional patterns
• Prosperity Effect
• Correlations of high education, lower fertility
  with skewed child sex ratios
• Two child norm
• Impunity of Medical Establishment

6
Responses

• State PCPNDT Act (revised) in 2004
• Various states launch Schemes for the girl
  child
• Religious and caste organisations now join the
  fray, given very low CSRs among Sikhs and Hindus
• New researches both macro and micro
• NGO campaigns
• International focus

7
Planning Families, Planning Gender

• Study conducted by a team of researchers in low
  CSR districts in PU, HA, HP, RA, MP
• In depth analyses of contextual factors at work
  in these diverse contexts
• Ranging from poverty to affluence
• Low CSRs especially among some groups and sites
• But not specific to particular castes and classes

8
Patterns of low CSR

• Diverse patterns
• Sex selection most prevalent and growing
• High female child mortality in pockets
• Cases of infanticide

9
Social Indicators

• Widespread schooling for girls
• Higher education in Pu, Hp, Ha, where girls even
  outnumber boys
• Low work participation rates overall
• Invisibility of womens work
• Rising ages at marriage 16 in MP and 21 in HP

10
Fertility Patterns

• Stated preferences one boy, one girl, weak in
  MP strong in HP
• Fertility declines everywhere to different
  degrees
• Revealed preferences growing proportion of
  families with one boy, one girl but also two
  boys, two boys, one girl

11
Fertility (contd.)

• Tiny proportion of families willing to have only
  girls
• One son norm among families in Punjab
• At least one son, at most one daughter
• Not just son preference
• Daughter aversion

12
Why?

• Intergenerational transfer of resources
• New costs of having a daughter with economic
  growth
• Education, health, care till adulthood
• Anxieties over daughters sexuality
• Marriage remains the compulsory institution

13
Problems and differences

• Aggressive use of technology by medical
  establishment locally and globally, ever newer
  technologies
• Shortage of women and bare branches
• Traditional and/or new forms of gender
  discrimination
• Ethics and language of choice
• Sex selection and the right to abortion

14
2011

• Predictions and speculations about Census 2011
• A turnaround or peaking of the practice?
• Or even more rampant effects of son preference
  and daughter aversion?

15
CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), NORTH-WESTERN REGION Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States
State 1991 2001 CHANGE 2001-1991 2011 CHANGE 2011-2001
Himachal 951 896 -55 906 10
Punjab 875 798 -77 846 48
Haryana 879 819 -60 830 11
Chandigarh 899 845 -46 867 22
Delhi 915 886 -49 888 2
16
CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States CHILD SEX RATIOS (0-6 years), REGION-WISE Census 1991, 2001 and 2011, Females per 1000 Males, Select States
Region States 1991 2001 CHANGE 2001-1991 2011 CHANGE 2011-2001
NORTH CENTRAL Uttar Pradesh 928 916 -12 899 -17
NORTH CENTRAL Madhya Pradesh 952 932 -20 912 -20

WEST Gujarat 928 883 -45 886 3
WEST Rajasthan 916 909 -7 883 -16
WEST Maharashtra 946 913 -33 883 -30
WEST Goa 964 938 -26 920 -18

EAST Bihar 959 942 -17 933 -9
EAST Jharkhand NA 965 943 -22
EAST West Bengal 967 960 -7 950 -10
EAST Nagaland 993 964 -29 944 -20
EAST Orissa 967 953 -14 934 -19

SOUTH Andhra Pradesh 975 961 -14 943 -18
SOUTH Karnataka 960 946 -14 943 -3
SOUTH Tamil Nadu 948 942 -6 946 4
SOUTH Kerala 958 960 2 959 -1