Today when we have forged into the 21st century and have conquered space and are on the verge of human cloning we humans still remain biased towards the sex of the unborn child. Wherever the human race exists in the world to whatever cast and crede the one fact that emerger loud and clear is that the choice of the expected newborn invariably remains a boy. Whenever the news of the arrival of a girl child is given to most of the population in India it is an aura of doom in the family and the friends and well wishers place it as a cause of God on the couple which is related to the “Karma’s” of the parents.
This major social “Look down” on couples bearing female children has lead to the couples and to the women themselves resorting to antenatal sex determination and selective termination of pregnancy and the rampant demand and supply of this technique and procedure has lead to the imbalance of the sex ratio in India.
However I must emphasis here that even before methods for determining the sex of the child came the preference of a son over daughter had resulted in an imbalance sex ratio.
What is sex ratio? Sex ratio of a population or a country is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in that set geographical area.
Whenever a demographic characteristic of a population is measured like census it is the sex composition, which is a basic measurement. The sex composition of the population is affected by a lot of factors :
- Difference in mortality in males and females
- Sex selective migration
- Sex ratio at birth
Due to rampant sex selection and female feticide practices, the sex ratio in India, in almost all states has fallen and it is estimated that 2 million female fetuses are aborted every year. The problem of gender discrimination is major socio-medical problem of India.
In our survey done in Agra Dist in this study the statistics are as follows :
Year / Block
|
Total Literate
|
% of Literacy
| ||||
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
| |
1971
|
380161
|
137355
|
517516
|
37.5
|
16.4
|
27.9
|
1981
|
551513
|
200878
|
752391
|
44.7
|
19.6
|
33.3
|
1991
|
757384
|
302289
|
1059673
|
63.1
|
30.8
|
48.6
|
Fatehpur Sikri
|
27654
|
5058
|
32712
|
61.5
|
14.2
|
40.6
|
Achenera
|
32098
|
7073
|
39171
|
60.4
|
16.7
|
41.0
|
Akola
|
26445
|
5470
|
31975
|
65.5
|
16.9
|
43.8
|
Bichpuri
|
22510
|
5756
|
28266
|
60.9
|
19.1
|
42.1
|
Baroli Ahir
|
38081
|
8389
|
46470
|
56.0
|
15.3
|
47.9
|
Khandoli
|
32925
|
8835
|
41760
|
61.6
|
20.8
|
43.5
|
Etmadpur
|
33121
|
10287
|
43408
|
67.2
|
26.6
|
49.4
|
Jagner
|
16882
|
3836
|
20718
|
52.5
|
15.4
|
36.3
|
Kheragarh
|
27622
|
5851
|
33473
|
58.9
|
15.9
|
40.0
|
Sainyan
|
29155
|
5175
|
34330
|
58.2
|
13.6
|
39.0
|
Shamsabad
|
31933
|
6169
|
38102
|
54.4
|
13.5
|
36.5
|
Fatehabad
|
27712
|
4780
|
32492
|
47.6
|
10.6
|
31.5
|
Pinahat
|
20708
|
4932
|
25640
|
55.6
|
16.4
|
38.1
|
Bah
|
27394
|
8430
|
35824
|
62.8
|
23.3
|
44.9
|
Jaitpur Kalan
|
26976
|
9985
|
36961
|
68.3
|
39.5
|
50.4
|
Total Rural
|
421216
|
100026
|
521242
|
59.1
|
17.6
|
40.7
|
Urban
|
336168
|
202263
|
538431
|
69.0
|
48.9
|
59.8
|
Total District
|
757384
|
302289
|
1059673
|
63.1
|
30.8
|
48.6
|
Source : ZSP-2004, Agra
We have, as doctors and as a part of society a big moral responsibility to educate & spread awareness and ourselves to detest and condem female feticide. FOGSI and GOI and social organization have to work together.
This paper attempts to review the sex ratio in India, and the causes leading to a full in the sex ratio.
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