Sex-selective Abortion Research Articles

Dowry in the absence of the legal protection of women’s inheritance rights

The practice of dowry is often thought to be the root cause of the unequal treatment of girls in India, as represented by sex-selective abortion and female infanticide. This is because the prospect of burdensome dowry payments in future makes the birth of a girl child unwelcome. For adult women without inheritance rights, however, dowry may function as their only source of protection. Using a nationwide dataset and exploiting a natural experimental setting, this study explores the relationship between dowry and women’s empowerment in India, a society where women do not have inheritance rights, and thus do not usually possess immovable assets. In such a society, dowry seems to enhance women’s status in the marital household. The relationship reverses when women have equal inheritance rights as their brothers. Empirical analysis suggests that the outright ban on dowry that ignores the context may not necessarily benefit women. It also implies that dowry may become unnecessary and disappear once women are assured of inheritance rights.

Magic Realism, Technology and Subjectivity in Contemporary Children’s Fiction in India: Reshaping Gender Attitudes

One of the objectives of using fiction as a medium of socialization of children is to infuse an understanding of gender roles in society. A number of children’s fiction books published in India in the last couple of decades have addressed this concern and contemporary critical studies on children’s literature have focused on the representation of gender and the biases inherent in it. Globalisation and the staggering advance of technology have triggered innovative fictional responses to gender roles and attitudes to appeal to the digital generation addicted to virtual reality and video games. The children’s text examined in this study represents technology as empowering adolescents and investing them with the capacity to transform age-old conservative attitudes towards gender identities specifically manifested in the still recurrent practice of female foeticide in India. Ranjit Lal’s Faces in the Water, creates a kind of magic realism by interweaving virtual reality into an everyday organic world, almost blurring the distinction between the two; an experimental narrative device that aims at re-examining conventional notions of masculinity and feminity. The purpose of creating an alternate world of virtual experiences is to comment upon the real world and effect transformatory action.

Effects of awareness programme on the knowledge, attitude and practice of gender preference & pre-natal sex determination in population of Nasik district

Introduction: India is facing a demographic nightmare in terms of gender imbalance, The worrying fact is the child sex ratio in Nashik district is 890 which is much lower than the national average of 919. This rate of decline is alarming. Though government has implemented PC & PNDT Act to prevent pre-natal sex determination, it seems not to be reflected in practice. Aims & Objectives: To assess effect of awareness programme on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Gender Preference & Pre-natal sex determination in population of Nashik district. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the antenatal ward of a tertiary care hospital, Nashik district. A total of 100 women were included and a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used. They were asked regarding the knowledge and attitude towards the PNDT Act. There was Awareness session on PC & PNDT act and Sex Ratio, post which the questionnaire was given again. Data was analyzed by using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) v.22.0. Results: In the Present Study, knowledge regarding PC&PNDT act was known by 88% participants. Gender preference of a particular sex in families was 45% which came down to 12% during the post awareness. Their desire to know gender of foetus came down to 4% from 15% after the awareness programme. Conclusion: The existence of son preference is at an alarming high rate in our society and is the most important – the root cause of imbalanced sex ratio. Thus apart from the legislative measures, people also needs to be educated about the ethical issues related to female foeticide

Addressing Stillbirth in India Must Include Men

ABSTRACTBackground: Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality, can only be achieved by reducing stillbirths globally. A confluence of medical and sociocultural factors contribute to the high stillbirth rates in India. The psychosocial aftermath of stillbirth is a well-documented public health problem, though less is known of the experience for men, particularly outside of the Western context. Therefore, men's perceptions and knowledge regarding reproductive health, as well as maternal-child health are important. Methods: Key informant interviews (n = 5) were analyzed and 28 structured interviews were conducted using a survey based on qualitative themes. Results: Qualitative themes included men's dual burden and right to medical and reproductive decision making power. Wives were discouraged from expressing grief and pushed to conceive again. If not successful, particularly if a son was not conceived, a second wife was considered a solution. Quantitative data revealed that men with a history of stillbirths had greater anxiety and depression, perceived less social support, but had more egalitarian views towards women than men without stillbirth experience. At the same time fathers of stillbirths were more likely to be emotionally or physically abusive. Predictors of mental health, attitudes towards women, and perceived support are discussed. Conclusions: Patriarchal societal values, son preference, deficient women's autonomy, and sex-selective abortion perpetuate the risk for future poor infant outcomes, including stillbirth, and compounds the already higher risk of stillbirth for males. Grief interventions should explore and take into account men's perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards reproductive decision making.

Evidence of socio-economic stress and female foeticide in racial disparities in the gender ratio at birth in the United States (1995–2014)

BackgroundMales are born in excess of females, expressed as M/T (male/total births), which is expected to approximate 0.515. Racial M/T disparities have been long known. This study was carried out in order to identify such disparities in different races in the United States. DesignMonthly male and female live births by race for the entire US were obtained from the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 1995–2014 for the four racial groups: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black or African American and White. ResultsThis study analysed 80805992 live births (M/T 0.5117). M/T was Asian or Pacific Islander>White>American Indian or Alaska Native>Black or African American. The M/T gradient across races was highly significant (p<0.0001). ConclusionsThe perinatal mortality rate is an important indicator of quality of health care delivery and is expected to approximate 6/1000 births. M/T declines in association with surrogates of socioeconomic status, presumably due to higher stress levels. The lower baseline M/T of Indian or Alaska Native and Black and African American is equivalent to a constant reduction of 3.5–4/1000 male births when compared to White M/T. Race is the most significant variable associated with wealth inequality in the US and may be partially responsible. Sex-selective abortion and the application of a male offspring preference stopping rule is widespread in Asia its immigrants, and in this study is equivalent a constant loss of 3.5 females foetuses per 1000 live births when compared to Whites.

A test of male infanticide as a reproductive tactic in a cichlid fish.

Infanticide and offspring cannibalism are taxonomically widespread phenomena. In some group-living species, a new dominant individual taking over a group can benefit from infanticide if doing so induces potential mates to become reproductively available sooner. Despite widespread observations of infanticide (i.e. egg cannibalism) among fishes, no study has investigated whether egg cannibalism occurs in fishes as a result of group takeovers, or how this type of cannibalism might be adaptive. Using the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher, we tested whether new unrelated males entering the dominant position in a social group were more likely to cannibalize eggs, and whether such cannibalism would shorten the interval until the female's next spawning. Females spawned again sooner if their broods were removed than if they were cared for. Egg cannibalism occurred frequently after a group takeover event, and was rarer if the original male remained with the group. While dominant breeder females were initially highly aggressive towards newcomer males that took over the group, the degree of resistance depended on relative body size differences between the new pair and, ultimately, female aggression did not prevent egg cannibalism. Egg cannibalism, however, did not shorten the duration until subsequent spawning, or increase fecundity during subsequent breeding in our laboratory setting. Our results show that infanticide as mediated through group takeovers is a taxonomically widespread behaviour.

‘Gendercide’, abortion policy, and the disciplining of prenatal sex-selection in neoliberal Europe

ABSTRACTThis article examines the contours of how sex-selective abortion (SSA) and ‘gendercide’ have been problematically combined within contemporary debates on abortion in Europe. Analysing the development of policies on the topic, we identify three ‘turns’ which have become integral to the biopolitics of SSA in Europe: the biomedical turn, the ‘gendercide’ turn, and the Asian demographic turn. Recent attempts to discipline SSA in the UK and Sweden are examined as a means of showing how the neoliberal state in Europe is becoming increasingly open to manoeuvres to undermine the right to abortion, even where firm laws exist.

Female sociality and sexual conflict shape offspring survival in a Neotropical primate

Most mammals live in social groups in which members form differentiated social relationships. Individuals may vary in their degree of sociality, and this variation can be associated with differential fitness. In some species, for example, female sociality has a positive effect on infant survival. However, investigations of such cases are still rare, and no previous study has considered how male infanticide might constrain effects of female sociality on infant survival. Infanticide is part of the male reproductive strategy in many mammals, and it has the potential to override, or even reverse, effects of female reproductive strategies, including sociality. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between female sociality, offspring survival, and infanticide risk in wild white-faced capuchin monkeys using long-term data from Santa Rosa, Costa Rica. Female capuchins formed differentiated bonds, and bond strength was predicted by kin relationship, rank difference, and the presence of female infants. Most females formed stable bonds with their top social partners, although bond stability varied considerably. Offspring of highly social females, who were often high-ranking females, exhibited higher survivorship during stable periods compared with offspring of less social females. However, offspring of highly social females were more likely to die or disappear during periods of alpha male replacements, probably because new alpha males are central to the group, and therefore more likely to target the infants of highly social, central females. This study shows that female sociality in mammals can have negative fitness consequences that are imposed by male behavior.

Constructing abortion as a social problem: "Sex selection" and the British abortion debate.

Between February 2012 and March 2015, the claim that sex selection abortion was taking place in Britain and that action needed to be taken to stop it dominated debate in Britain about abortion. Situating an analysis in sociological and social psychological approaches to the construction of social problems, particularly those considering “feminised” re-framings of anti-abortion arguments, this paper presents an account of this debate. Based on analysis of media coverage, Parliamentary debate and official documents, we focus on claims about grounds (evidence) made to sustain the case that sex selection abortion is a British social problem and highlight how abortion was problematised in new ways. Perhaps most notable, we argue, was the level of largely unchallenged vilification of abortion doctors and providers, on the grounds that they are both law violators and participants in acts of discrimination and violence against women, especially those of Asian heritage. We draw attention to the role of claims made by feminists in the media and in Parliament about “gendercide” as part of this process and argue that those supportive of access to abortion need to critically assess both this aspect of the events and also consider arguments about the problems of “medical power” in the light of what took place.

The bio-politics of population control and sex-selective abortion in China and India

China and India, two countries with skewed sex ratios in favor of males, have introduced a wide range of policies over the past few decades to prevent couples from deselecting daughters, including criminalizing sex-selective abortion through legal jurisdiction. This article aims to analyze how such policies are situated within the bio-politics of population control and how some of the outcomes reflect each government’s inadequacy in addressing the social dynamics around abortion decision making and the social, physical, and psychological effects on women’s wellbeing in the face of criminalization of sex-selective abortion. The analysis finds that overall, the criminalization of sex selection has not been successful in these two countries. Further, the broader economic, social, and cultural dynamics which produce bias against females must be a part of the strategy to combat sex selection, rather than a narrow criminalization of abortion which endangers women’s access to safe reproductive health services and their social, physical, and psychological wellbeing.

Effect of Planned Teaching on the Knowledge of College Students Regarding Female Foeticide

Female foeticide means killing of female foetus in the womb of the mother. In India, the declining Sex Ratio at Birth is a matter of concern and sex selection leading to female foeticide is foremost cause presenting itself as one of the greatest socio-legal challenges. Objectives: To assess the pre-test and post test knowledge score of college students regarding female foeticide, to determine the effect of planned teaching on the knowledge of college students regarding female foeticide, to find out the relationship of knowledge with respect to selected demographic variables. Research methodology: A pre-experimental one group pre-test post-test research design was selected for the study and non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select 60 students. A self structured questionnaire was prepared to collect the data before and after the planned teaching. Findings: The value of p is <0.001, there is significant increase in the knowledge level of college students regarding female foeticide hence the planned teaching is effective. In pre test total score is less (MEAN is 11.24 and SD is 2.00) where as the total score of post test increases (MEAN is 17.22 and SD is 2.07) with the t' value of 14.392, through effective planned teaching. Conclusion: The study concluded that developed Planned Teaching was effective in improving the knowledge of college students regarding female foeticide.

Impact of a Father's Mixed-Sex and Son Preference on Physical Domestic Violence: A Natural Experiment from India

Sex preference and domestic violence are both rich literature, but there is no stream of prior studies linking the two. This paper addresses this gap by investigating whether a father's preference regarding the sex of children affects the probability of the mother experiencing domestic violence. Using the random nature of the gender of newborn children, this study quantifies the causal impact of having a third same-sex child on the probability that the mother will experience domestic violence. The empirical results suggest that among women who already have given birth to two girls, giving birth to a third girl increases the probability of domestic violence compared to giving birth to a son. After controlling for factors related to sex-selective abortion, domestic violence indicators for households with three consecutive female births increase by 0.147, which is a 13.4% increase from the average score. For households with two boys, having a third boy (compared to a third girl) also increases the domestic violence. The sub-sample analysis shows that the increase in domestic violence due to girl births are especially large for households with a husband who has a son-preference. This finding emphasizes the social burden of gender inequality and contributes knowledge regarding another cause of domestic violence.

How Do Infanticidal Male Bank Voles (Myodes glareolus) Find the Nest with Pups?

AbstractInfanticide, the killing of conspecific young, occurs in most mammal species, like in our study species, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). Infanticide by adult males is regarded as a strong factor affecting recruitment of young into population. It is considered as an adaptive behaviour, which may increase male fitness via resource gain or an increased access to mates. When an intruder is approaching the nest, the mother should not be present, as her nest guarding is very aggressive and successful. Pups use ultrasonic vocalisation to call their mother when mother leaves nest for foraging but it is not know which cues do infanticidal males use to find the nest with vulnerable pups to commit infanticide? We studied whether the pups' sounds or the olfactory cues of the nest guide the males of known infanticidal behavioural trait towards the nest with vulnerable pups. Four nest boxes in a large indoor arena offered different nesting cues: nest odour, pup vocalisation, both odour and sound or control with no cue. The result showed that infanticidal males were more active in their searching behaviour than non‐infanticidal males and seemed to target the nest providing only acoustic cues. Four of the males, all infanticidal, intruded the nest box. Infanticidal males seem to actively search for nests with vulnerable pups by eavesdropping pup begging calls for absent mother. However, under natural conditions, mother presence and aggressive nest protection may be an effective counter strategy against strange male infanticide. When trapping study voles from the wild, we monitored occurrence of male infanticide across the breeding season from early to late summer. Proportion of infanticidal males was between 25 and 29% of all males tested along the breeding season. Our results suggest that male infanticide seems to cause a stable threat for pup mortality in increasing breeding season density.

Five-year study of unidentified/unclaimed and unknown deaths brought for medicolegal autopsy at Premier Hospital in New Delhi, India.

Delhi is the second largest city of the world both in terms of population and area, as well as being the capital of India. Every year, thousands of people from different states throng to the capital in search of a job in order to earn a living. When these people die and their bodies are found without any identifying documentation, it is very difficult for the police to establish their identities. These bodies are labelled as unidentified/unclaimed or unknown, and are sent for usually sent for medicolegal autopsy. Invariably, skeletonised bodies are also recovered, which are also subjected to medicolegal autopsy. Female foeticide is another social problem, and whenever such foetuses are disposed of illegally, they are also grouped under this category and brought for medicolegal autopsy. We undertook a five-year retrospective analysis (for the period 2010-2014) of all such cases brought for medicolegal autopsy at our centre, which caters only for the south and south-east districts of Delhi. A total of 7964 cases were brought for medicolegal autopsy, of which unknown cases accounted for about 16%. About 25-30 foetuses and skeletonised bodies were brought each year that was studied. The manner of death was certified as natural in about 71% of cases, with predominant pathology in the lungs. There was a clear predominance of males over females, with the 31- to 50-year age group accounting for half of all cases. There was an increase in the number of deaths during months of extreme temperatures. The average time between the recovery of a body by the police and the post-mortem was about seven days. These findings raise many questions, including the failure of governmental policies, police investigating agencies and social menace. The creation of a national missing-persons database as well as a DNA databank is needed to aid in the identification of unidentified/unclaimed and unknown bodies.

In the Pursuit of Sons: Additional Births or Sex-Selective Abortion in Pakistan?

Even though Pakistan is a highly patriarchal society, it has not featured prominently in studies focusing on sex-selective abortion and sex ratios at birth. But with fertility declining and existing strong son preference-Pakistan has one of the highest desired sex ratios in the world-how will Pakistani families respond? In the pursuit of sons, will they have additional children or resort to sex-selective abortions? Or is there evidence that the pursuit of sons is weakening? Using data from three rounds of the demographic and health survey, we show clear evidence of son preference in fertility intentions, patterns of contraceptive use and parity progression ratios. More specifically, we find pervasive evidence that Pakistanis continue childbearing to have a son, to have more than one son and to have at least one daughter. We do not find consistent and convincing evidence that sex ratios at birth (which indicate sex-selective abortion) are increasing.

Delayed Registration and Identifying the “Missing Girls” in China

AbstractIn 2010, according to the sixth Chinese census, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) was 118 males for every 100 females. The global SRB average is about 105. Thus, the gap between 118 and 105 is made up of “missing girls.” Scholars present three main explanations for the skewed SRB statistic: sex-selective abortion, infanticide and delayed or late registration. Most studies take a demographic and cultural approach to explain the high SRB. However, we believe the story of the “missing girls” is also an administrative one and adopt the street-level bureaucrat theory of policy implementation to explain the pervasiveness of late registration in rural China. We use descriptive statistics derived from the 1990, 2000 and 2010 census data to identify the “missing girls.” We believe the combination of late registration and unreported births may point to a larger proportion of “missing girls” than previously reported from the SRB statistic.

Sex-selective Abortions and Infant Mortality in India: The Role of Parents’ Stated Son Preference

In India, millions of female foetuses have been aborted since the 1980s alongside an abnormally high infant girl mortality rate; this has generated a vast literature exploring the root causes of son preference. The literature is sparse, however, on how the decisions to abort or neglect girls are made. This paper examines mothers’ and fathers’ respective roles behind those decisions. Using the third National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-3) data, we show that sex-selective abortions are most commonly used if both spouses or if only the fathers prefer sons, while sex-selective neglect is used if only the mothers prefer sons.

The Dynamics of Son Preference, Technology Diffusion, and Fertility Decline Underlying Distorted Sex Ratios at Birth: A Simulation Approach.

We present a micro-founded simulation model that formalizes the “ready, willing, and able” framework, originally used to explain historical fertility decline, to the practice of prenatal sex selection. The model generates sex ratio at birth (SRB) distortions from the bottom up and attempts to quantify plausible levels, trends, and interactions of son preference, technology diffusion, and fertility decline that underpin SRB trajectories at the macro level. Calibrating our model for South Korea, we show how even as the proportion with a preference for sons was declining, SRB distortions emerged due to rapid diffusion of prenatal sex determination technology combined with small but growing propensities to abort at low birth parities. Simulations reveal that relatively low levels of son preference (about 20 % to 30 % wanting one son) can result in skewed SRB levels if technology diffuses early and steadily, and if fertility falls rapidly to encourage sex-selective abortion at low parities. Model sensitivity analysis highlights how the shape of sex ratio trajectories is particularly sensitive to the timing and speed of prenatal sex-determination technology diffusion. The maximum SRB levels reached in a population are influenced by how the readiness to abort rises as a function of the fertility decline.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13524-016-0500-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Perceptions of political actors on sex-selective abortion in Northwestern India

Perceptions of political actors on sex-selective abortion in Northwestern India

PRECONCEPTION AND PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES ACT 1994 AND ITS MAIN ROLE TO CURB SEX DETERMINATION AND SEX SELECTION

India has a male dominated culture where women are treated like a commodity and slave. Our Indian society gives preference only to the Son not to female because of which girls' child is not heartily welcomed and discrimination against girl child still prevails. Sex selective abortion is one of major issue in recent era in relation to violence against women under which the Ultrasonography machine plays an important role of sex detection. Main cause for sex selection are Patriarchal system, Dowry system, only son who can performs the last rites, lineage and inheritance runs through the male line, the Small family norms , PARAYADHAN, easy access to the Medical facilities and Technology for Sex Selective Abortion. Low literacy rate, low socio-economic condition of women etc. Sex selection and sex determination causes violence, impact on equilibrium of nature, Polyandry, Imbalance between Male-Female populations etc&#x0D; Maharashtra was first State to enact Maharashtra regulation of use of PNDT Act in 1987. The PNDT Act was passed in 1994 Hon. Supreme Court passed an Interim judgment in 2001 for more strict implementation of Act based on PIL filed by CEHAT, MASUM and AdvSabu George PNDT Act amended in 2003 to Pre conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Technique Act (PC-PNDT) Applicable to all Govt/NGO/Private/corporate establishments . Main purpose of Act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques before and after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex selective abortion. Every offence under this Act is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable (Sec 27). Act has made it mandatory to maintain records of every scan done. (Section 29 and Rule 9) Section 5 and Rule 10 (1A).Implementing Authority under the Act is Appropriate Authority (Section 17) has power to search, seize and seal clinics (Section 30). The Act prohibited communication of sex of the foetus by words, signs or in any other manner (Section 5) , advertising sex determination test in any form are liable for punishment (Section 22) .Offence under this Act punishable with imprisonment of years which extend to 5 years and fine up to 10,000 which extend up to 50,000.