child sex ratio determinants

DETERMINANTS OF GENDER DIVIDE AND

CHILD SEX RATIO- A CASE ON CUDDALORE

DISTRICT,TAMILNADU

STUDENT: KEERTHANA.A.R

PP0004113 GUIDE: Dr. Anil Kumar Roy

CONTENT

1.INTRODUCTION

2.LITERATURE REVIEW

3.RESEARCH DESIGN

4.CHILD SEX RATIO & ITS DETERMINANTS

5.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INTRODUCTION

1.INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

•Difference in the behaviours, interests and performances between the gender -men in the

economic activities- flow of money- root for discrimination.

•Though women represent nearly half the population of the globe and one-third of the

labour force, they receive only one-tenth of the world income.

•Made its path to the extent of deciding the sex of the baby- Gender divide (a human right

issue)- reflecting on Child Sex Ratio- inclusive planning?.

•Across the globe, women empowerment is an emerging trend in the path of development

whereas it is highly neglected to probe into the determining factors of skewing child sex

ratio.

INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW RESEARCH DESIGN CSR & ITS DETERMINANTS CONCLUSION

890

900

910

920

930

940

950

1991 2001 2011

CSR-TREND

CSR-TREND• "Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners

which detect the sex of a child advertise with

catchlines such as spend 600 rupees now and

save 50,000 rupees later." - IndianChild.com

RATIONALE

•A 2011 study published in the British medical journal the Lancet found that as many as 12

million Indian girls may have been selectively aborted between 1980 and 2010.

•Despite the introduction of legal provisions, media messages and incentive based

schemes, there is prevalence of dismal sex ratio.

•India ranks third in the skewed child sex ratio.India ranks 113 out of 135 countries as

per World Economic Foru ’s Global Gender Gap Report 2011.

SOURCE: Census 1991,2001,2011


LITERATURE REVIEW

2.LITERATURE REVIEW

Female child mortality is high after 6 months of age showing that behavioral pattern

influences the sex ratio (Waldron, 1983).

In such context, little education level improvement did not prove to help. Daughters of

educated women face worse situation than daughters of uneducated women

(Makinson,1994)

Though biology supports dismal sex ratio, improving nutrition and health to women will

enhance the unbalanced number (Sen, 1990).

Patriarchy is the main reason and women themselves cause gender discrimination

(Jyothi,1991)

In China, improved women education has direct influence in improving girl children

health. In India, if first girls are born to educated mothers who wanted the child to

balance sex composition, mortality is low (Ren, 1995).

In the case of Morocco and Tunisia, inspite of having good sign of female education

Tunisians prefer sons (Obermeyer,1996).

Higher level of education among women shows reduction in son preference in India

(Pande,2001)


OBSERVATION

SOCIAL CULTURAL HEALTH ECONOMY

Education level of

mother

Head of household Usage of advanced

technologies in medical

sciences

Employment

opportunity of

mother

Education level of

father

Allowance of other’s parents to stay

Nutritional level of

female children

Total income of the

family

Type of household Marriage expense on

daughters

Female mortality rate

between infants and

children aged between

1 & 6

Religion

•The factors influencing gender divide in CSR do not remain the same

across the globe.

• Socio economic, cultural and demographic pattern influences the

change.

SOURCE: Inference of literature review


RESEARCH GAP

•Research to understand the determinants behind the drastic decrease in

CSR on district level scale is scanty.

•Research focusing on effective policy interventions and awareness of it is

scanty.

5 DETERMINING COMPONENTS


RESEARCH DESIGN

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• What is the prevailing scenario of child sex ratio in the study area?

• What are the influential components in the skewed child sex ratio?

• What are the determinants of gender divide in sex preference?

• What are the programs and schemes imposed by the government in

response to the declining child sex ratio?

• What are the loopholes in the programs and schemes with respect to the

determinants identified?

• To study the prevailing scenario of child sex ratio in the district.

• To understand the determinants of gender divide in sex preference.

• To examine the loopholes in the programs and schemes with respect to

the determinants.

OBJECTIVES


METHODOLOGY

STAGE 1

• Developing an understanding of the concept and interpreting literature review across various domains of the world to frame components of determinants of gender divide in child sex ratio.

STAGE 2

• Incorporating three tier sampling method to select the survey area with respect to the declining child sex ratio. Formulating data collection methods and to collect the same from HSCs, Anganwadis and households.

STAGE 3

• Finding the determinants of child sex ratio and loopholes in the programs and schemes by analyzing the data collected.


FIRST STAGE SAMPLING

Identified as one of the 100 GENDER

CRITICAL DISTRICTS in the country.

YEARS INDIA TAMILNADU CUDDALORE

1991 945 948 969

2001 927 942 957

2011 914 946 895

2021 901 950 833

750

800

850

900

950

1000

1991 2001 2011 2021

TREND IN CSR

TREND IN CSR



SECOND STAGE SAMPLING TALUKS 1991 2001 2011 2021

PANRUTI 956 953 898 847

CUDDALORE 968 952 931 910

KURINJIPADI NA NA 883 -

CHIDAMBARAM 970 967 907 851

KATTUMANNARKOIL NA 975 900 825

VIRUDHACHALAM 982 944 867 790

TITTAKUDI NA 958 882 806

820

840

860

880

900

920

940 CSR-2011

PANRUTI

CUDDALORE

KURINJIPADI

CHIDAMBARAM

KATTUMANNARKOIL

VIRUDHACHALAM

TITTAKUDI

700

800

900

1000

1991 2001 2011 2021

TREND IN CSR



SOURCE: Census 2011


THIRD STAGE SAMPLING

SOURCE: Census 2011


SOURCE: Census 2011


METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Focus groups - Village Head Nurse from HSCs, Anganwadi teachers, ANMs, households

(whose female child is dead)

HEALTH SUB CENTRES

•Kanadukandan

•Kilpathi

•T.Mavadandal

•Kodumanur

•Vilakkapadi

•Pavalangudi

•Ka.Elamangalam

•Chinnapandarankuppam

•Village Head Nurses

from the HSCs were

contacted.

•Addresses of parents

whose female fetus and

daughters of age 0-6

were dead between

2001 and 2011.

ANGANWADI

•9 Anganwadis and 9 teachers.

•Addresses of dropped out female

children.

ANM

•One mid wife from each HSC was contacted.

•Addresses of unrecorded abortions of the

female fetus .

SOURCE: nrhmtn.gov.in


HOUSEHOLDS

Category Source

Prenatal

Still Birth HSC record

Unrecorded Abortion ANM

Postnatal

Neonatal Deaths HSC record

Dead Female (1-6) HSC record

Anganwadi Dropouts Anganwadi teachers

Category Total

recorded

No. of

addresses

provided

No. of

addresses

available

Prenatal

Still Birth

HSC1 40 23 11

HSC2 43 18 18

Unrecorded abortion NA 21+26 15+24

Postnatal

Neonatal

Deaths

HSC1 56 17 16

HSC2 57 32 13

Dead Female (1-6) 15 12* 9

Anganwadi Dropouts 6 2** 0

Total 217 141 106

*out of 15, 3 families were dead of vehicular accident

**out of 6, 3 had moved to convent for schooling and 1 died of AIDS

SOURCE: Secondary data from HSCs, Anganwadis & ANM


FIVE DETERMINANTS AND ITS DATA SOURCE

HSC NAME OF THE VILLAGE

PRENATAL DEATH POSTNATAL DEATH

TOTAL Still birth

Unrecorded

abortion

Neonatal

deaths

Dead

female(1-6)

HSC 1

Kanadukandan 2 3 3 1 9

Kilpathi 4 5 4 0 13

T.Mavadandal 2 4 5 2 13

Kodumanur 3 3 4 1 11

HSC 2

Vilakkapadi 6 5 3 1 15

Pavalangudi 3 4 4 0 11

Ka.Elamangalam 4 6 3 2 15

Chinnapandarankuppam 5 9 3 2 19

TOTAL 29 39 29 9 106

Purposive sampling

SOURCE: Secondary data from HSCs, Anganwadis & ANM


CHILD SEX RATIO AND ITS DETERMINANTS

YEAR LIVE

BIRTHS

STILL

BIRTHS

EARLY

NEONATAL

DEATH

LATE

NEONATAL

DEATH

POST

NEONATAL

DEATH

INFANT

DEATH

M F M F M F M F M F M F

2001 114 89 1 4 1 0 1 1 1 0 3 1

2002 98 89 0 3 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 5

2003 105 80 3 8 5 3 1 2 1 0 7 5

2004 116 77 4 5 1 7 2 2 1 1 4 10

2005 97 73 0 1 1 11 3 0 2 2 6 13

2006 60 50 3 6 2 2 0 1 0 2 2 5

2007 65 44 0 9 2 9 1 2 1 2 4 13

2008 91 63 2 13 3 11 1 4 1 0 5 15

2009 105 62 3 13 2 7 0 2 1 2 3 11

2010 81 55 1 11 1 12 2 4 0 3 3 19

2011 90 47 0 10 4 11 0 1 0 0 4 14

TOTAL 1022 729 17 83 22 79 11 19 8 12 41 113

HEALTH DETERMINANT-HSC

SOURCE: Secondary data from HSCs


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

MALE

FEMALE

NO. OF LIVE BIRTHS

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

MALE FEMALE

STILL BIRTH

MALE

FEMALE

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

MALE FEMALE

POST

LATE

EARLY

NEONATAL DEATHS

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

MALE FEMALE

INFANT DEATH

MALE

FEMALE


Age

group

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F

1-2 0 1 0 1 0 0 6 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

3-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

4-5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

5-6 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

MALE FEMALE

SEX WISE DEATH IN THE AGE GROUP OF 1-6

INFERENCE

•High still birth influencing low live births.

•Early neonatal deaths occur when a y’s

sex is unknown in the womb.

•The child sex ratio is skewed because of

the high female still birth and IMR and the

female mortality of age group (1-6) does ’t

affect the child sex ratio.

•High rate of milk asphyxia due to improper

attention/ forceful feeding which is

purposive in motive.

RECORDED REASONS FOR THE DEATH

0-1 1-6

REASON % OF DEATH REASON % OF DEATH

Brain tumour 3 Vehicular accident 25

Insect bite 15 Jaundice 4

Low birth weight 25 Tsunami 40

Heart disease 2 Fever 31

Premature labour 17 -

Milk asphyxia 38 -

In the reported low birth weighed female children, the

associated factor recorded is preterm birth which means

premature labor.




HEALTH & POLITICAL DETERMINANT-ANGANWADI

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

FEMALE

MALE

PERCENTAGE OF SEX WISE ENROLLMENT OF

CHILDREN FROM 2001 TO 2011

Male – Female MUWs

Male-23

Female-77

Male – Female SUWs

Male-306

Female-217

INFERENCE •Reason behind high male enrolment of male children than that of female is the screwed CSR before

the age of 2.

•Less number of female dropouts show that the children of age group 2-5 did not have influenced the

CSR.

•Care for female children is highly neglected and is reflected in MUWs and SUWs irrespective of the

enrolment strength.

•Introduction of mid-day meal program reduced total number of SUWs and MUWs but not benefitted

the female children.



CASE STUDIES

VILLAGE HEAD

NURSE

MID WIFE ANGANWADI

TEACHER

CHILD

DEVELOPMENT

OFFICER

•Practices of

ultrasonic scanner

•Sex of the first

baby revealed

•Number of scans

per month is 60

•And 50% of them

opt for illegal

abortion

•Postnatal deaths

occur when fetus’ sex is unknown

•Forceful milk

feeding and paddy

seed feeding are the

methods used to kill

infants

•Prevalence of

informal abortions

by receiving money

from parents

•The money spent

on aborting is found

to be lesser than the

money that will be

spent to grow up a

female child.

•There are no

recorded dropouts

in the school

•This is because to

show 100% pass out

to the authority of

Sarva Shiksha

Abhiyan

•No irregularity in

attending the

classes between

male and female

•The enrollment of

female children are

lesser than that of

the male children

•Pointed that IMR

influences the low

child sex ratio

SOURCE: Primary survey to VHN,ANM, Anganwadi teacher and CDO


SOCIAL,CULTURAL,ECONOMIC & POLITICAL

DETERMINANT-HOUSEHOLD SURVEY

SOCIAL CULTURAL ECONOMY POLITICAL

Education level of

mother

Head of household Employment

opportunity of

mother

Awareness of

programs and

schemes

Education level of

father

Allowance of other’s parents to stay

Total income of the

family

Availed and

benefitted

programs

Type of household Marriage expense on

daughters

Type of

employment of

men and women

Size of household Religion

Marital status Community

Fear of safety for

daughters

Decision maker

Age of marriage

Expenses o others’ parents

Son/ daughter-like?

QUESTIONS TO THE SAMPLES


GENERAL

CATEGORY PERCENTAGE

PRE/POST PRENATAL 64

POSTNATAL 36

DEATH

TYPE

STILL BIRTH 28

ABORTION 37

NEONATAL

DEATH

27

1-6

MORTALITY

8

•The number of samples in the Chinnapandarankuppam is higher than the other villages and this

village ranks the least the least in CSR with 479.

•The percentage of samples from prenatal category is higher than that of postnatal. This shows

there is high percentage of foeticide which is because of the prenatal sex determination.

•The percentage of different types of death shows that the samples from 1-6 mortality is the least

since CSR is not highly affected by this category.

PROFILE OF THE SAMPLES


CATEGORY PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENT’S AGE <= 25 26

26-30 53

31-35 21

MARITAL STATUS MARRIED LIVING WITH

HUSBAND

83

WIDOWED 16

SEPARATED/DIVORCED 1

TYPE OF HOUSEHOLD JOINT 63

NUCLEAR 37

SIZE OF HOUSEHOLD SMALL 56

MEDIUM 43

EDUCATION LEVEL ILLITERATE 0 0

PRIMARY 0 8

HIGH SCHOOL 12 26

HIGHER SECONDARY 41 41

DEGREE 47 25

SOCIAL

Middle aged mothers with the

hope for son birth opting to loose

female child.

The gender divide is inculcated in

both the father and mother of the

child.

The percentage of joint family is

higher than that of the nuclear

family.

The size of household is

insignificant in determination

factor.

Though there are no illiterates,

there is high gap between fathers’ and others’ education level.

And high % of degree holders are

identified in men.


CATEGORY PERCENTAGE

NO.OF CHILDREN 0 28 60

1 39 29

2 23 8

3 10 2

NO.OF ELDERLY PEOPLE 0 61 47

1 39 53

AGE OF FATHER <=35 33

36-40 47

41-45 20

FEAR OF SAFETY YES 27

NO 73

SOCIAL

The number of samples with no male child is

highly lesser than that of the family with no

female child. Also the percentage of families

with 3 sons are higher than that of the female.

The presence of elderly people has implications

on sex preference.

The percentage of families with middle aged

men are higher which is same as that of women

category

The percentage of people admitted for the fear

of safety for daughters are lesser and so this

factor is insignificant

Delay

in

birth

Prenatal

category

Postnatal

category

Percentage Percentage

0-3 6 74

4-7 60 16

8-11 29 8

12-15 4 2

Total 100 100

Category

% Of

respondents

with no child

Prenatal

deaths 10%

Postnatal

deaths 2%

Total 12%

This shows that higher percentage of death is

when the sex of the baby is revealed.

The prenatal category holds higher percentage

of respondents with no child.

This reveals the severity of wait for the male

child.


CATEGORY PERCENTAGE

RELIGION HINDU 76

CHRISTIAN 12

MUSLIM 11

COMMUNITY OC 8

BC 41

MBC 40

SC 10

ST 1

HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD MALE 91

FEMALE 9

DECISION MAKER MALE 88

BOTH 12

AGE OF MARRIAGE <=25 6 85

26-30 87 15

31-35 7 0

36-40 1 0

ALLOWANCE OF

MOTHERS’ PARENTS STAY

YES 12

NO 88

CULTURAL

The percentage of Hindu parents are higher

where the last rites performed by sons are

given importance

The composition has higher percentage of

backward and most backward class which is

higher in the district.

Unless the women is widowed, the family is

male headed showing the patriarchal authority.

Nearly 90% of families hold men as decision

maker and this proves wo e ’s action are

controlled by men

The age of marriage shows that there are no

late marriages which influences the delay in

child birth and expect for son

The patriarchal system affecting old age

security for others’ parents influence in

preferring for sons.


CULTURAL

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

DAUGHTER

SON

EXPECTED MARRIAGE EXPENSES ON SON AND DAUGHTER

High expense on

daughters- dowry –status reflection.

PERCENTAGE OF LIKELINESS

SON

DAUGHTER

BOTH

ECONOMY

0

20

40

60

80

100

MEN WOMEN

WAGE WORKER

BUSINESS

PRIVATE

GOVERNMENT

UNEMPLOYED

PERCENTAGE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF

EMPLOYMENT SECTOR OF MEN AND WOMEN

High percent of

unemployed

women

TOTAL INCOME OF THE FAMILY

80% into low

income group

and this

affects sex

preference.


POLITICAL This shows that 65% of samples are unaware of the policies

and schemes available that encourages increasing the child

sex ratio. Among the rest 35%, only 14% of people have

availed a scheme. And the rest had not availed any.

SOCIAL CULTURAL ECONOMY POLITICAL

Age of parents Community Employment

opportunity of mother

Awareness of

programs and

schemes

Type of household Religion Total income of the

family

Difference in

education level

between parents

Head of household

Average education

level of family

Decision maker in the

family

Old age security to

others’ pare ts

Marriage expense on

daughters

IDENTIFIED DETERMINANTS OF GENDER DIVIDE


INTERDEPENDENCE OF PARAMETERS

Community & Religion

Patriarchal setup

•Joint family

•No old age se urity for others’ pare ts

•Head & decision maker

•Gap in education level

•Women employment opportunity

Low total income of family

High marriage expense on daughters

INFERENCE

•High prenatal death - delay in child birth with

prenatal category.

•Middle aged parents - hope of having a male child

• 12% of samples have no child

•Joint family structure with higher percentage of

presence of elderly women influences son

preference.

•The patriarchal structure grounds the fathers’ parents to look for daughter-in-laws with lower level

of education

•The difference in level of education affects wo e ’s

freedom of action.

•Hindu religion -last rites are performed only by

sons.

•low income groups and high expectation on

daughters’ marriage expense

•Institution failure starting from the awareness.


POLITICAL LOOPHOLES-PROGRAMS & SCHEMES

Program/scheme

Year

Authority Objective

GIRL CHILD PROTECTION

SCHEME

1991

DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN AND

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

To ensure economic security of female

girls.

BABY CRADLE SCHEME

1992

STATE GOVERNMENT To end female infanticide by adopting

children.

REPRODUCTIVE AND CHILD

HEALTH

1997

MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY

WELFARE

To reduce infant mortality, fertility rate

and maternal death

INFANT AND YOUNG CHILD

FEEDING

2004

MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE

DEVELOPMENT

To improve survival and health.

To reduce malnutrition

DHAN LAKSHMI

CONDITIONAL CASH

TRANSFER

2008

MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD

DEVELOPMENT

To provide financial assistance to

educate and save girl child

MOOVALUR

RAMMAMIRTHAM

AMMAIYAR NINAIVU

MARRIAGE ASSISTANCE

SCHEME

2009 SOCIAL WELFARE AND NUTRITIOUS

MEAL PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT

To help financially poor parents in

getting their daughter’s married and

to promote the educational status of

poor girls.


Program/scheme

Year

Authority Objective

SIVAGAMI AMMAIYAR

MEMORIAL GIRL CHILD

PROTECTION SCHEME

2010 SOCIAL WELFARE AND

NUTRITIOUS MEAL

PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT

To provide financial assistance to the

poor family with girl child in condition of

no male child adoption in future.

JANANI SHISHU

SURAKSHA KARYAKRAM 2011 MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY

WELFARE

Reduce maternal and infant mortality by

providing free institutional deliveries

SAVE THE DAUGHTER,

TEACH THE DAUGHTER 2015 MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

To improve the ou try’s dwindling child

sex ratio & gender equality through

education.

LOOPHOLES

•Low level of outreach of programmes of family planning and women and child development

schemes in rural areas.

•The expected expense on daughter’s marriage is higher than what is provided by the government.

•The patriarchal setup of the family where the parents of the daughters are not guaranteed for old

age security is not considered in any of the schemes.

•Also the expense on daughters’ education is considered a burden as she will be entering the culture

of being economically less powered than that of men. Not reflecting the education on the schemes is

a major drawback.


CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

SOCIAL CULTURAL HEALTH ECONOMY POLITICAL

Age of parents Community Still birth and

infant death rates

of female children

Employment

opportunity of

mother

Awareness of

programs and

schemes

Type of household Religion Use of prenatal

sex determining

technologies

Total income of the

family

Difference in

education level

between parents

Head of household

Average education

level of family

Decision maker in the

family

Old age security to

others’ pare ts

Marriage expense on

daughters

DETERMINANTS OF GENDER DIVIDE AND SEX RATIO


RECOMMENDATIONS

•Education to girls can be made free till high school irrespective of the social and economic

status of the family.

•Encouraging rural girls in higher education will reduce literacy gap between men and

women which is a stepping stone for mitigating discrimination.

•Policy that ensures equality in salary to both the gender in the jobs assigned to them will

help improvising the freedom of action to women.

•Increasing the outreach of existing schemes and programs through media and other

means in the rural areas will enrich the value of female children.

•Regulating the provision of old age security in an effective way in the rural areas will

reduce the joint family setup which is the major problem.

•Abolishing the dowry system by educating people about the equal rights of men and

women will reduce the expected marriage expense on daughters.


child sex ratio determinants

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