the great girl deficit, in india

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Saeema Hawaldar

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Aim

The following report investigates the major problems that account for the great ‘girl deficit’ in India, a situation which has noticeably developed over the last 20 years. UNICEF, the leading advocate for children’s rights which is active in 155 countries and territories around the world has looked into the situation discovering that more than 10 million female births have been lost to abortion and sex selection over the last 20 years approximating to a loss of 500,000 girls a year.  In this report I intend to underline the current situation and the key factors that account for India’s ‘girl deficit’, where it is most common and why and what can be done to provide stability in the figures and prevent further decline.

Through statistical analysis the situation is clearly shown to be on the increase which stimulates a cause for concern for the future of India’s female population if the reasons behind the girl deficit are not addressed immediately.

As the second most populous country in the world, India’s sex ratio takes a staggering setback relative to this as India itself has the lowest figures of sex ratios in the world.

Statistics

  • The census of 1991 records the lowest ever value in India’s sex ratio.
  • It is estimated that 10 million female foetuses have been terminated in the two decades leading up to 1998, and 5 million since 1994 the year a ban on the practice was introduced.
  • In the year 1999 the sex ratio value was 936 girls and women to every 1000 boys and men.
  • According to the more recent official Indian Census of 2001, there were 927 girl babies for every 1000 boy babies nationwide.
  • Towards the north-west of the country the sex ratio suffers more, with states such as Haryana having a sex ratio of  only 865 girls and women to every 1000 boys and men and Punjab where the sex ratio is 880 females to every 1000 males.

Both figures help to illustrate the extent of the problem of girl deficit in India. Figure 1 is a map showing the estimated sex ratios for 1999 in the world whereas figure 2 concentrates on the regions in India. Both maps are essential in comparing figures in India in relation to the rest of the world. In figure 1, although India does not categorise under the lowest band in terms of the number of females to every 1000 men, it is still relatively low compared with the proportion of the world with a higher number of females to every 100 men. Figure 2 shows the ratio of females per 1000 males in the population of India in 1991. it clearly illustrates that there is a substantial decrease in life expectancy for girls as we move from the south to the north.

The predominant cause of the girl deficit in India

Ultrasound and abortion

The imbalance in the sex ratio of India is widely due to female foeticides and it is because of the intrusions of cultural habits and medical technologies that it has become impossible to measure the ‘natural’ balances of the human population. i.e. the comparison of female life expectancies and male life expectancies.

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Studies have found that medical technologies such as ultrasound scans now enable parents to practice prenatal selection and selective abortion, a practice that remains common in India and as a consequence, claims up to half a million female lives every year. The use of ultrasound equipment was introduced to India in 1979 and has estimated to have become a $100million business in India primarily through mobile sex selection clinics that can drive into any village or neighbourhood and therefore promote female foeticides.

Factors that contribute to the issue of abortion/main problems

  • Cultural issues

There are many ...

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