Sex ratios: what they hide and what they reveal
Srinivasan, K.
Economic and Political Weekly 29(51/52): 3233-3234
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0012-9976 Document Number: 273520
This paper looks at the widespread decline in the ratios in India in the context of an increasing trend in female life expectancy and other such factors, which raises the question of whether there was large scale under-enumeration of females in the 1991 Census. From demographic theory, it can be shown that in a period when the life expectancy of females increases by a greater length than for males, it is impossible for the sex ratio to decline except in the case of large scale surplus emigration of females over males or a very sudden drop in the percentage of female births to male births. In many states, the sex ratios have been quite low and there have been further declines. Women's lower status in Indian society has contributed to a low age at marriage for girls, lower literacy and educational attainment and higher fertility and mortality levels during the reproductive ages. Since independence, consistent efforts have been made to improve their status through legislation and social action by various women's groups. Although they have not achieved a status equal to men's, it is certain that their position has not deteriorated over time such as to imply a higher mortality level for females compared to males. There has been an increasing incidence of female foeticide through the use of modern techniques that identify the sex of the baby, leading to the decline in the sex ratio. Boys were generally regarded as the weaker sex and therefore given better care and treatment and nutrition.