National Seminar

13 – 14 December

Lives at risk: new emerging trends in India’s declining sex ratio

WHAT: According to government reports 2 million foetuses are aborted each year for reason none other than they happen to be females (UNFPA)*.

Sociologists, demographers, NGOs and civil society will discuss the initial findings of a ground-breaking study that looks at the new emerging trends and problem of ‘missing’ girls and women in India’s population.

The study focuses on the States which fare worst on the sex-ratio index – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Pointing towards an emerging trend the study coordinated by ActionAid says:

“The states showing the largest decline in the child sex ratio between 1991 and 2001 are also among the most economically prosperous ones.This defeats the old argument that blames growing feminisation of poverty for the adverse sex-ratio”

WHERE/WHEN: Indian Council for Social Science Research, JNU Institutional Area, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, 13 – 14 December

WHY: While most of the studies on the subject have been done by demographers this study combines the earlier method with socio-anthropological approach.

Anchita Ghatak who leads ActionAid’s work on women’s rights in India says:

 “The problem of declining sex ratio cannot be viewed only in terms of numbers. If we are to reverse this trend of ‘missing girls’ we need a deeper qualitative study which looks at the reasons behind decisions to abort and neglect baby girls. We need to understand contexts which affect human behaviour such as marriage, gender, sexuality, property rights and so on.”  

It is one of the few studies which looks at juvenile sex-ratio (0-6 years) which in the last decade has dropped from 945 (1991 Census) to 896 (2001 Census). This worrying trend has emerged despite a marginal rise in the overall sex ratio from 923 to 933 in the same period.

“The juvenile-sex ratio (0-6 yrs) is the most realistic indicator of trends in female foeticide and continuing discrimination against the girl child. It constitutes a relatively stable population - not migrating for education, work or marriage,” says Dr. Ms Ravinder Kaur of the Indian Institute of Technology and part of the advisory board for the study.

Some of the keys issues to be discussed are:

ü   How  advances in technology and economic prosperity among some sections are fuelling sex selection practices

ü   The rural-urban divide – variations in the sex-ratio trends between and within the two settings

ü   Social, political, economic and cultural constraints shaping gender relations within families and society

WHO: Participants present at the National seminar will include:

Sayeda Hameed, Member of Planning Commission

Mary John, Centre for Women’s Development Studies

Rajni Palriwala, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University

Saraswati Raju, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Ravinder Kaur, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

Satish Agnihotri, Advisor to Cabinet Secretariat

Navsharan Singh, International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC)

Manjula Krishnan, Ministry of Women and Child Development

Dhanashree Brahme, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Malini Bhattacharya, National Commission on Women

Sharda Srinivasan, Institute of Social Studies, Hague

Anchita Ghatak, leads ActionAid’s work on women’s rights in India

Participants from Delhi, Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu (states not covered by the Study) will also make presentations on emerging trends in their regions including how civil society organisations are responding.

Notes to editor:

The study was initiated by ActionAid with the support of International Development Research Centre, Canada

Advisory Board for the study comprises of sociologists and demographers from Jawaharlal University, Delhi University and Centre for Women Development Studies.