Why do some of the most prosperous regions of India have an adverse sex ratio for women? Give your arguments.
Despite economic prosperity, cultural norms continue to fuel gender bias against women in several affluent Indian communities.
- Firstly, attitudes privileging sons due to patriarchal social structures mean many still view daughters as burdensome – to be married off requiring large dowries. Consequently, sex-selective abortion of female fetuses persists even among wealthy, educated families across states like Punjab, Haryana and Western UP.
- Secondly, affluence provides greater access to medical technology misused to enable sex-determination during pregnancy and subsequent termination if the fetus is female. Strict laws deter direct sex screening, but warnings go unheeded. The desire for small families with son preference pressures mothers, whatever their economic status, to evaluate whether to abort based on illegal advice of a child’s gender.
- Thirdly, prosperity awards families greater privacy and mobility, letting discriminatory choices to continue under the radar. Poorer sections undergoing greater community and governmental oversight have improved sex ratios. Authorities have failed restricting misuse of reproductive methods among the mobile affluent.
- Finally, financial empowerment among women still lags social reform in prosperous regions. As long as households measure status with regards to habitual son preference among inheritors, daughters risk being seen as lesser heirs diluting family assets or requiring expensive marriages. Therefore gender still outweighs class.
True prosperity requires dismantling cultural preference for sons over equal inheritance daughters in property and asset rights. Technology access helps circumvent laws otherwise protecting equity and dignity across genders. Sensitizing all sections is key.
Topics: GS-I: Role of Women and Women's Organization
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Akshaya Kumar Jena
March 8, 2015 at 9:06 pmThe main reason for adverse sex ratio for women in India is our preference for sons on account of our patrilineal-cum-patriarchal family set-up coupled with patrilocal sojourn after the marriage.As for the most prosperous regions of India, the access and affordability to modern methods of safe and non- messy ways of sex selection and abortion facilitates the translation of our traditional son-preference into easy reality giving rise to under-feminisation of sex ratio.
KUMARI neha
October 31, 2020 at 4:34 amsome of the major cause are:
• Patriachy Male preference trend: state like haryana, madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are in top position when it comes to child sex ratio.our patriarchal mindset have given preference to male members considering important part of family welfare as they are only bread earner and will continue to family lineage. Preferring son was strong among the affluent income group
• Female infanticide: this is the main reason for adverse sex ratio. It is abortion of female foetus outside of legal method. It is also in form of deliberate killing of newborn female child.
• Considering female as a weaker sex: In most of the adverse sex ratio states women are considered as weak. A daughter is consideredas double loss as she leave her family after marriage and become asset of another family.
• Sex determination practice: Though the practice of sex selection is illegal in India, still it is carried out in most part of urban area by pre natal test. Most of the time it is practiced after the birth of one girl child.
• improper implementation of medical termination of pregnancy act (MTP act) : India has passed first law related act in 1972 and was last time amended in 2002. The act make abortion legal for women who suffered risk during pregnancy and for rape victim but misuse of this act take place.
• Misuse of technology: Most of the low sex ratio state are very well developed in field of technology. Hospitals in urban cities are well equipped with latest technology and instrument such as ultrasound scanning etc.This technology help in determining sex ratio during pre natal care,people tend to misuse the technology most of the time. Delhi reported highest number of violation.