Sex Ratio In India Research Articles

Awareness of prenatal sex determination and preconception and prenatal diagnostic techniques act: A comparative study among rural and urban females of reproductive age group (15–45 years) attending a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India

Background: Preference for a male child by the family leading to a sex-selective abortion has been a leading factor for the skewed sex ratio in India. This has long-term social and demographic consequences. The present study was conducted with the aim to assess the awareness and attitudes regarding prenatal sex determination and preconception and prenatal diagnostic technique act (PC-PNDT) among females of reproductive age group (15–45 years) attending a tertiary care teaching hospital in Jammu district of J and K state in North India. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 210 females of reproductive age group. The study participants were administered a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Data thus obtained were analyzed using SPSS Version 20.0 and expressed in percentages. Chi-square test was used as test of statistical significance with P Results: Awareness about sex determination among respondents was 94%. Higher proportion of urban respondents knew about ultrasound as the technique for sex determination than their rural counterparts (P Conclusion: Respondents had high awareness about sex determination as well as technique used for it. Awareness about PC-PNDT act was on the lower side. Education programs for the women about gender equality and wider publicity of the act in the mass media need to be scaled up.

Gender difference in health seeking behaviour among mothers of under five children in Lucknow

Background: Discrimination and gender gaps have been observed even in early years of life. Although overall sex ratio in India has improved from 933 to 940 in the last decade, it declined from 927 to 914 in children aged less than five. Girls, less than five years, show steadily high mortality/morbidity compared to boys. This study was conducted to find the gender inequality in health seeking behaviour (HSB) among mothers of under five children. Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted in rural area of Lucknow, between September 2014 to August 2015. A total of 221 households having 376 under-five children were selected by multistage sampling technique from rural area of Lucknow. Mothers were interviewed about health seeking behavior for their ill child. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS v21. Results: About 95% of the male child and 86.4% of the female child sought treatment. Of the total females that were treated, 67.3% were taken to a health facility/provider while the rest got treated at-home against 76.4% males that got treatment outside home. Conclusions: Gender discrimination do exist in the rural area at each step of seeking health-care for girl child. Adequate measures should be taken to improve their health status and consequently sex ratio as early as possible.

Determinants of gender preference among women of Belagavi: a cross sectional study

Background: Sex ratio in India, has always remained unfavorable to females. Changes in the sex ratio, reflects the underlying socioeconomic, cultural patterns of a society. A number of factors influence the relative benefits and costs of sons and daughters and ultimately the parent’s gender preferences. Objective was to study the factors that determine gender preferences among women of reproductive age group and to formulate preventive measure against gender bias.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by interviewing married women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) attending general OPD and antenatal clinics in urban field practice (n=400) areas of Belagavi. All married women with at least one child were included in the study.Results: Son preference was seen among 137 (34.25%) women participants. Socio-economic factors like religion, literacy status, occupation, socio-economic status were significantly associated (p<0.001) with gender preference. Awareness about PCPNDT act (p<0.0001), self-deprived image (p<0.001) and the gender of previous child (p<0.000001) which was highly significant were the other factors that determined the gender preference among women. Old age dependency and growth of family were the main reasons given by women for existence of son preference and no dowry and security of girls were the two important preventive measures as opined by women for prevention of female feticide.Conclusions: This study clearly infers that son preference is prevalent among women of Belagavi and there is an intricate association of many factors which determine this gender preference. Efforts to address patriarchal gender norms, strengthening the existing laws against dowry, PCPNDT Act, educational and occupational opportunities for females are the dire needs if girls are to be perceived as important and desired in our society.

Evolving Patterns of Child Sex Ratio in India

The article focuses on the geographical dimension of child sex ratio (CSR) and its evolving pattern for the last 40 years (1981–2011). Using a spatial statistical approach, it has been possible to identify homogeneous groups of objects in the study area. The study considered the role of spatial proximity of cultural diffusion which spreads rapidly regardless of the position of groups within a social structure. In doing so, the article tried to conceptualise the role of region in shaping its gender. The study explained declining CSR through the process of two mechanisms: one, the regional pull, that is, a region exerts a force so as to cause a movement towards itself and the other, diffusion of knowledge and ideational changes. Finally, the study has tried to measure the effect of socio-economic variables on CSR through a regression model.

The state with lowest sex ratio in India: role of socio – cultural factors?

Background: Child sex ratio is declining rapidly from 945 in census 2001 to 927 in census 2011.With the average family size decreasing rapidly and preference for male child remaining the same, the female child population is showing a downward trend. Objectives: To study the factors responsible for low child sex ratio and to study the relationship between sex ratio and birth order.Methods: The study was done in Primary health centre, Khanpur Kalan which is rural field practice area attached to the department of community medicine, BPS Govt. Medical College for women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana. Assuming the probability of being born as female is 50%, the calculated sample size was taken as 400 at 95% confidence interval. Data was collected from house to house visit with the help of pre tested and semi structured questionnaire.Results: The overall child sex ratio of the study population was 620. Sex ratio goes on decreasing with increasing educational status of parents and with increasing birth order. Most common factor responsible for girl child negligence as told by respondents is domestic violence and ill treatment by husband and in laws. The most common reason for male child preference as told by the respondent is to run the family name, followed by security in old age and to perform the last rites.Conclusions: There should be National Policy for giving social security and equal rights to females so that parents do not feel any type of social or financial insecurity. Monitoring and counselling of families especially the families with previous two girls should be done at the community level.

Declining Sex Ratio: A Socio-Cultural Study in District Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir

Son preference has been one of the most evident manifestations of patriarchal society. In India right from her birth, a girl child is treated by the society, including her parents as a burden because of various traditional beliefs and misconceptions of the society. The reaction of the family members is different towards the girl's rights right from the birth. Often the girl is born and brought up in an atmosphere where the family would have rather preferred a boy in her place. This attitude of acceptance to large extent affects her existence. Those who survive are also discriminated and neglected in numerous ways. Sex ratio is understood as the number of females per thousand males. All over the world, the ratio of female-male population is favorable for women except in developing countries like India where males outnumber females. The sex ratio in India has declined drastically since 1961 from 976 to 927 in 2001. In this paper both primary and secondary sources were used. It aims to throw light on valuable information about declining sex ratio in some districts of Jammu and Kashmir particularly in reference to the provisional data released by Census 2011 while looking more specifically at the trends in Kathua district which had showed a decline compared to 2001 census. Kathua has shown a decline from 898 in 2001 to 877 in 2011. Kathua ranked at 12th position in 2001 while it has now dipped to 14th position as far as the district wise sex ratio in the state of J&K is concerned. The present paper is an attempt to understand at the micro level the socio-cultural factors that have traditionally undervalues daughters compared to sons and how such factors are contributing in declining sex ratio in the present area of Kathua district in J&K.

Sex Ratio Complexity in Selected States: A Tentative Observation

Sex ratio is one of the important indicators reflecting the status of girl child as well as women in Indian society. This paper makes an attempt in examining complex trends of sex ratio at the district level in selected states. State level data may not be considered truly representative as district level data reveals a paradoxical situation. A close examination of 2011 census data reveals that some districts are much below the State average; whereas, other districts show low sex ratio. These trends require explanation different from State level average. It has been argued that sex ratio variations at the district level or even below district level may provide us better insights than the conventional understanding of the State level averages. This may have implications for policy and planning in order to address the social problems of gender discrimination. In this background, we have comparatively analysed seven states of India viz. Haryana, Rajasthan, J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as states of north and west are notorious for discrimination against women, the manifestation of which is apparent through the sex ratio of respective states. And now this serious problem is also making its inroad into southern and eastern states too. This phenomenon is supported by advancement in reproductive technologies and their use for sex determination and elimination of unwanted female foetus, which is responsible for adversely increasing gender disparity as reflected through child sex ratio in India, which is negating the notion of woman empowerment rather contributing in declining the status of women and girl child. It has been shown in the paper that in best performing states there are worst performing district, which are comparable to states and districts with low sex ratio and vice-versa.

A community based cross sectional study on gender preference, awareness and attitude regarding sex determination among married women in rural field practice areas of North Karnataka, India

Background: Female infanticide has been practiced in India since 1789. The child sex ratio in India is declining from 947 to 927 girls for 1000 boys within a span of ten years. This decline can be attributed to arrival of affordable and widespread adoption of Ultrasound in the early 1990s in India. Like other countries around the world, India is patriarchal. A set hierarchy prevails in all tiers of its social order, and a fanatic preference for male children is especially common in India. Still in India value system based son mania prevails. In this view our study regarding awareness and attitude towards gender preferences was relevant . Objective of the study was to evaluate gender preference, awareness and attitude regarding sex determination among married women in rural field practice Areas of North Karnataka, India. Methods: Community based cross-sectional study conducted by interviewing married women of reproductive age group attending general OPD and antenatal clinics in rural field practice areas. Statistical analysis was done by tables and charts in percentage. Results: In this study when asked about gender preferences most (49.4%) of the study subjects showed interest towards male child. Majorities (91%) of study participants were unaware about the pre natal sex determination, 4.5% were aware and 3.8% knew that sex determination was done in both private and government hospitals. When enquired about the method of sex determination majority (84%) were unaware, 15% knew that it is done by Ultrasonography. Among the study participants 75% were unaware about the fact that sex determination is considered as a crime in India and in the remaining, only 13% knew that there is a 13% knew that there is a strict punishment or penalty exists in India for sex determination . Conclusions: In present study we found that son preference is still more in rural areas. Government should impose High fines and should take strict judicial action against parents who try to kill their unborn baby girl. More IEC activities to create awareness about ill effects of female feticide among rural women.

Hindistan’da cinsiyet oranının dengelenmesi için olasılıkların incelenmesi

The sex ratio is an important demographic indicator for a nation. A wide range of adverse social consequences have been observed because of a skewed sex ratio in India. If India as a nation is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal – 3 (which promotes gender equality and ensures the empowerment of women), the primary target should be involve all those involved, so that a collective and comprehensive approach can be developed to counter the public health menace of an asymmetrical sex ratio. In conclusion, the nation’s program managers should prioritize the issue of a skewed sex ratio and work towards developing a coordinated response. Key Words: Sex ratio, policy makers, India.

The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries

Is the high degree of gender inequality in developing countries—in education, personal autonomy, and more—explained by underdevelopment itself? Or do the societies that are poor today hold certain cultural views that lead to gender inequality? This article discusses several mechanisms through which gender gaps narrow as countries grow. I argue that although much of the GDP/gender-inequality relationship can be explained by the process of development, society-specific factors are also at play: Many countries that are poor today have cultural norms that exacerbate favoritism toward males. Norms such as patrilocality and concern for women’s “purity” help explain the male-skewed sex ratio in India and China and low female employment in India, the Middle East, and North Africa, for example. I also discuss why the sex ratio has become more male-skewed with development. Finally, I lay out some policy approaches to address gender inequality.

Declining Child Sex Ratio in India: Popular Media like Films Need to Contribute

Copyright: © 2014 Androutsopoulos G, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Vaginal primary malignant melanoma (VPMM) is a rare and very aggressive tumor [1,2]. It accounts for 0.3-0.8% of all malignant melanomas, 2-5% of female genital tract melanomas and less than 3% of all vaginal malignancies [1-3]. Only 250 cases have been reported in the English literature [1,2].

Public Health Interventions toStabilize theAsymmetrical Sex Ratio in India

Worldwide, the demographic indicators of any population have gained a lot of importance as it not only provides the desired information required for development of health policies, but even enables evaluation of the existing strategies and comparison of these indicators on a regional or global level[1]. Sex ratio (i.e. the total number of females per thousand males), plays a significant role not only in epidemiological studies, but also depicts the socioeconomic and cultural pattern prevalent in the society [2]. Estimates of the latest census in India suggest a negative trend in the child sex ratio (viz. 911 females per 1000 males in 2011 in contrast to 927 females per 1000 males in 2001), and it emphasizes that due attention should be given to halt this trend[3,4].

Prenatal diagnosis in India is not limited to sex selection

To the Editor: We read “Impact of Prenatal Technologies on the Sex Ratio in India: An Overview,” by Madan and Breuning,1 and, as a group of medical geneticists from India, we wish to express our concern regarding the content of this article. Although we do appreciate the good intentions of the authors, we do not agree with some of the particulars mentioned. We also found certain sections of the article to be quite objectionable and irrelevant.

Understanding the perceived reasons and practices related to gender preferences in an urban population of Puducherry: an exploratory study

Background: Declining child sex ratio in India even after enactment of PCPNDT Act is a major concern from public health point of view. Objectives: 1) To find out the perceived reasons and preference for the gender of the prospective child 2) to find out practices related to ultrasound (USG) scanning during pregnancy and abortion and 3) to find out the child sex ratio in the selected urban field practice areas of JIPMER, Pondicherry. Methods: A community-based explorative study was conducted during the months of June and July 2013. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the socio-demographic details, sex preference for the prospective child, and practices related to USG scanning during pregnancy and abortion among 270 households in the study area of urban Puducherry. One Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was organized to explore and understand the qualitative aspect of gender preference in the study area. Results: Among the respondents who had not completed their families (67), majority (60%, 40/67) didn’t have any gender preference. Out of the rest 27, 16 respondents (60%) preferred their prospective child to be male. The common reasons for male preference were 1 st child being female, dowry and other financial reasons. Majority (62%) of the USG during pregnancy were done in private set up. Nearly three fourth of the abortions took place either in private set up or at home. Nearly 37 % of respondents felt that proportion of females was less in their area as compared to males. Nearly 6% (16/270) of the respondents were aware of existence of practice of sex determination and female foeticide in their area. The child sex ratio was found to be 1012 per 1000 males. Conclusions: Male preference in the backdrop of higher proportion of practice of abortion in the private set up, along with participants’ awareness of existence of sex determination practices points towards plausible female foeticide. There is a need to generate stronger evidence to confirm these suspected links.

Evidence of Self-correction of Child Sex Ratios in India: A District-Level Analysis of Child Sex Ratios From 1981 to 2011.

Sex ratios in India have become increasingly imbalanced over the past decades. We hypothesize that when sex ratios become very uneven, the shortage of girls will increase girls' future value, leading sex ratios to self-correct. Using data on children under 5 from the last four Indian censuses, we examine the relationship between the sex ratio at one point in time and the change in sex ratio over the next 10 years by district. Fixed-effects models show that when accounting for unobserved district-level characteristics--including total fertility rate, infant mortality rate, percentage literate, percentage rural, percentage scheduled caste, percentage scheduled tribe, and a time trend variable--sex ratios are significantly negatively correlated with the change in sex ratio in the successive 10-year period. This suggests that self-corrective forces are at work on imbalanced sex ratios in India.

Fertility Decline and Missing Women

The desire for smaller families is conjectured as one reason the male-to-female sex ratio has increased with economic development in several countries. Families that strongly want at least one son are less likely to obtain him by chance at low fertility, which could increase their use of sex-selective abortion. This paper quantifies the relationship between desired fertility and the sex ratio in India by eliciting sex composition preferences at specified fertility levels. I find that the desired sex ratio increases sharply as fertility falls and that fertility decline explains one third to one half of India's recent sex ratio increase. (JEL I21, J13, J16, O15, O18)

In This Issue

see Developing a public health-tracking system for follow-up of newborn screening metabolic conditions: a four-state pilot project structure and initial findings The nationwide expansion of newborn screening programs provides an opportunity to better understand how early identification affects health outcomes of children. But lack of standardized data collection and of collaborative long-term follow-up has hindered efforts to determine whether children diagnosed with metabolic disorders receive appropriate health-care services. To address this issue, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded a three-year pilot project to expand and enhance public health data-collection programs in four states: California, Iowa, New York, and Utah. The authors report that the project not only improved state-level data but also, importantly, provided pooled data that sped the process of acquiring sufficient information to better understand how these rare disorders affect health outcomes. A total of 261 infants diagnosed with 1 of 19 metabolic disorders were followed through age 3. The research revealed that 88% received care at a metabolic clinic at least once in their first year of life. Those figures fell slightly to 77% in their second year and 74% in their third year. In the first year of follow-up, almost all the children (94%) saw a metabolic geneticist at least once; most (78%) also saw a metabolic dietitian, and half received services from a genetic counselor. The authors argue that continuing to track the long-term outcome of children diagnosed with metabolic disorders through newborn screening is necessary to maintain quality of care, identify areas for improvement, and observe the epidemiology of disorders recently added to the screening panel. —Karyn Hede, News Editor see Impact of prenatal technologies on the sex ratio in India: an overview and Prenatal technologies and the sex ratio Noninvasive prenatal testing undoubtedly serves a vital role in early detection of genetic defects, but the authors of a review and an accompanying commentary in this issue bring critical focus to the technology’s darker uses. Widespread use of prenatal diagnostic technologies to discover a fetus’ sex early in pregnancy has led to highly skewed female-to-male ratios in China and (the focus of the review) in India. The review’s authors draw troubling correlations between low female birth rates in several Indian provinces and higher levels of violence against women. They point out that, despite Indians’ ingrained cultural preference for a boy, the problem had previously been contained. Recently, however, it has resurfaced owing to the availability of increasingly common and inexpensive methods for prenatal sex selection as well as financially burdensome demands for brides’ dowries. The ability to identify a male fetus via noninvasive prenatal testing, available since the mid-2000s, is further encouraging prenatal sex determination, the authors state. They report that India’s current female/male sex ratio of 0.914 among children under 6 is historically low and that in some areas, it is well below 0.9. In his related commentary, Peter Benn, Director of Diagnostic Human Genetics Laboratories at the University of Connecticut Health Center, argues that clinical geneticists must confront these difficult moral quandaries: “The example of prenatal gender identification illustrates that even the most basic genetic information can fundamentally affect societies in worrisome ways.” He notes that the recent public outcry about gruesome crimes against women in India could be used to put pressure on authorities to enforce laws banning prenatal sex selection. —Karyn Hede, News Editor

The influence of female literacy on the sex ratio in Indian states

Background: Son preference has resulted in a lopsided sex ratio in India. There is also an interregional variation in the sex ratios among the states. Aims & Objectives: This study is conducted to evaluate the influence of female literacy on sex ratios through three decades from 1981 to 2011. Materials and Methods: Data from the past four censuses were analyzed to determine the decadal change in female literacy and sex ratios in 24 states and the results were utilized to determine the impact of improving female literacy on the sex ratio in the states. Results: Female literacy in India improved from 29.85% in 1981 to 65.45 in 2011. In the same period the sex ratio improved from 934 to 943. The change in sex ratio and female literacy rates in individual states however is not uniform and there is significant regional variation. Conclusion: Female literacy has a positive bearing on the sex ratio and states which have a higher literacy rate show faster movement towards gender parity. Therefore higher the female literacy rate in a state more is the improvement in sex ratio for every percent further rise in female literacy.

Rising Sonss and Setting Daughterss: Recent Trends of Child Sex Ratios in Indian Population

Despite century old concern and debate child sex ratio patterns have shown an alarming increase over the last two decades, more so during 1991 to 2001. The pattern of increase in child sex ratio though erratic up to the first half of the last century, shows consistent rise at least since 1961. As these groups are the ‘feeder source’ of adult population in future, such trend if unchecked, ‘will continue to haunt the society in decades to come’ until and unless corrective measures are taken. Growing child masculinity in contemporary India and its regional penetration forced the policy makers and demographers to recognize the reality of human interferences behind the recent increase in child sex ratios. Out of the different types of interferences, most talked about is the ‘sex selective abortion’ that gained currency during 1980s and more so in the 90s. However the practice of sex selective abortion of unwanted foetus is still more pronounced in the north and north western1 part of the country more so in some relatively prosperous areas or among the prosperous households. Employing spatial interpolation technique (say, kriging), the present paper tries to analyze the geographical structure of child sex ratio and its changing pattern over time. The analysis indicates, far from being random, the child sex ratios in India seem to be continuous over space showing robust clustering of high masculinity in child population on one hand and its systematic (spatial) increase on the other. The spread as well as intensity of growing masculinity in child population clearly endorses that from a regional perspective the problem regarding excessive maleness in the population is rapidly being surfaced as a national problem needs to tackle with greater resources. Such spatial patterning of child sex ratios clearly hints that diffusion of sex selection might be well entrenched in Indian population with sufficient degree of regional diversity. The study endorses the importance of contextual policy and advocacy measures to arrest the increasing trend of masculinity as it will affect population dynamics not only in the regional or national context but also in the broader spectrum of international arena. This should be a matter of concern for policy makers, researchers and activists alike.

“We want change for our daughters”: Personal discourse about the daughter deficit in Andhra Pradesh

Discourse about the skewed child sex ratio in India has given insufficient attention to individual mother's stories about raising daughters. The narratives women tell one another can have long-term impact, as new models of the family are slowly produced by a discursive emphasis on daughter's strengths. This micro-regional pilot study based on 25 interviews with mothers in Andhra Pradesh was undertaken to learn what women felt were the most crucial actions to erode son preference. Families were focused on daughters as bearers of family honor and fearful that daughters will be endangered in public spaces. According to the mothers, the two most important steps to address the daughter deficit are aiding women's economic independence and modifying men's set ideas about women's capabilities and value.