Prosperity And The Sex Ratio
Jayesh Lalwani points me to an interview of Ashish Bose, a demographer, in which Bose talks about why “[s]tates such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi now have fewer than 900 girls per 1,000 boys.” He explains:
The phenomenon of declining sex ratio that showed up in Census 2001 is worst in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharastra. This defies all demographic theories as these are prosperous states. You expect that when people live better, have better education and economic security, there will be less of a traditional bias against the girl-child; but in India, like China, it has only worsened the situation. Suppose like China, instead of just one, we had a two-child policy, then the Jats and Punjabis would ensure that they had two sons.
In India, there is an unholy alliance between tradition and technology. Tradition is marked by son-preference. Technology started in the ’80s with amniocentesis, most readily available in Punjab, the state made most prosperous by the Green Revolution, and having a long tradition of son- preference. Today ultrasound is the sex-selective technology that is widespread in most prosperous states.
The reasons are easy to define – prosperity ensured better infrastructure, more machines and more doctors to perform the tests. People had money-power to pay for the technology and of course, as infrastructure improved, people could access the clinics easily. All this made foeticide rampant.
There are a bunch of cultural factors for this bias, and local factors that make the ratio worse, such as the tendency in Punjab for men to migrate to the West. Read the full interview. Pretty bleak.
who will supervise private detectives?why not put the medical council of india into charge of the implementation of the PNDT Act.
Comment by aak — December 12, 2005 @ 12:29 pm
The problem is cultural.
PNDT Act can only be a stopgap measure, in the long run it can change nothing absolutely.
How do you ensure that as a parent I take full responsibility for survival and proper upbringing of my girl child that I coulnot kill before she was born.
Economic “Help” to offset “Social Disadvantage” for parents of girl child would be better idea. Again as a short term measure.
My mother was able to complete her education rather than get married at 16 because she had a Rs. 60 a year scholarship from the government. And thanks to the education, economic independence and say that she enjoys none of the girls in my family from my generation have had to face any kind of discrimination.
Comment by Swapmil — December 12, 2005 @ 1:28 pm
[...] 5 pm News & Current Affairs | The Indian Economy Blog » Blog Archive » Prosperity And The Sex Ratio [...]
Pingback by Seeker’s Digest » Blog Archive » The Indian Economy Blog » Blog Archive » Prosperity And The Sex Ratio — December 12, 2005 @ 3:36 pm
india needs women
India’s most wealthy states are apparently the ones most suffering from a gender deficit, with the number of male children outnumbering females by a more than 10:9 factor.: States such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi now
Trackback by asiapundit — December 12, 2005 @ 7:39 pm
The IT Services boom should bring parity b/w men and women, coz it’s not the brawn but brain that matters. As we move to a service-oriented economy, and away from the manufacturing/agricultural base (though it could take a while), the problem should (theoritically) recede. You see this occuring in the US as well as Western Europe. Even US had a strong male involvement in the employment sector at the turn of the 19th century. But, services changed the landscape.
Comment by Raghu — December 12, 2005 @ 9:39 pm
Raghu, interesting stuff. Can you point me to any literature on the point you make?
Comment by Amit Varma — December 12, 2005 @ 11:13 pm
I think due to migration of labour skilled/unskilled within India, one would expect a distortion of sex ratio even in some of the more prosperous places in India. Their are a number of reasons why males are more likely to migrate than women such as: it is looked down upon for women to start a life outside the family circle. In addition men across India, unfortunately, are more likely to be educated than women. This makes it easier for them to find skilled labour. And hard labour generally goes to men before women.
Perhaps the fact that prosperous places such as Delhi and Gujarat that show these distorted sex ratios, are actually however slightly improving sex ratios in rural areas.
Comment by Patel — December 13, 2005 @ 2:19 am
What would be implications of this after a few decades? Will the shortage of marriable women reverse dowry? Or will girls get married at younger age to make up for the shortfall? If the second possibility does not arise, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Comment by Eswaran — December 13, 2005 @ 6:34 am
Eswaran, I think you also have to take into account increased crime rates that will occur due to the imbalance. Educating/empowering women is the only way to solve such problems.
Comment by Patel — December 13, 2005 @ 9:43 am
[...] eing much more dramtically from 2020 - 2050 than the US will be. India’s demography, while of course far from perfect, is in fact much better over the long haul. S [...]
Pingback by The Indian Economy Blog » Blog Archive » The Demographic Dividend — December 19, 2005 @ 2:33 pm