Explain the problem of "Missing Girls" in India
What will be an ideal response?
The 2011 census revealed that the gender ratio of children five and under decreased to 914 girls for 1,000 boys compared to 927 in 2001.
The natural relation was slightly more boys than girls, so approximately 600,000 girls were missing each year. The explanation was a preference for boys that resulted in sex selection through the abortion of female fetuses and much less commonly female infanticide. Sex selection was a phenomenon as well in China and a number of other countries, but in India it appeared to be worsening.
Some states where sex selection was the worst were some of the highest income states, including Punjab, Haryana, and Gujarat. In addition to sex selection, some families neglected their young girls.
One explanation for the preference for boys over girls was the tradition of providing a dowry. A family with a daughter may incur expenses in arranging a marriage and must provide an expensive dowry that can leave some families in debt. In contrast, a boy will obtain a wife and a dowry. The practice of providing a dowry had spread to states that had not previously had the tradition and had become more prevalent in wealthier states.
Technology played a role in sex selection. In particular, ultrasound devices were routinely used during pregnancies, and they could early on identify the sex of a fetus. It was illegal in India for a medical professional to reveal the sex of a fetus, but it was easy to find someone who would do so.
Portable ultrasound machines made possible an illegal mobile sex selection business.
Some hope for reducing sex selection was provided by a change in attitude of the people. The 2011 census in India stated, "female literacy, improving female health care, improving female employment rates [are] slowly redefining motherhood from childbearing to child rearing. Census 2011 is perhaps an indication that the country has reached a point of inflection.
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