Why in news?
Economic Survey 2017-18 has pointed out Meta preference and fertility stopping rule for skewed sex-ratio of the last child (SRLC).
What is the status of gender ratio in India?
- The sex-ratio of the last child (SRLC) born in Indian families is excessively slanted.
- At national level, it is around 9.5 per cent worse than it should be, compared to other countries at similar levels of development.
- In Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan, the SRLC is 2,100 boys for every 1,000 girls, In Haryana, it is even worse at 2,300 boys: 1,000 girls.
- The male child preference is highest in Punjab and Haryana and lowest in Meghalaya.
- While India has shown improvement in several parameters related to women's empowerment, the preference for a son has not diminished.
What are the reasons for this condition?
- An average Indian family prefers to have two children, there are instances where families have more than five children if the last child is not a male.
- Indian families carry on having kids until there is a boy and then, they stop having kids.
- The Survey calls this as “meta preference” and a “fertility stopping rule” by making an inference that there are 21 million unwanted girls of age group 0-25 were born because their parents wanted a boy.
- More than 2 million women go missing across age groups every year either due to sex-selective abortion, disease, neglect, or inadequate nutrition, according to the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS).
- Reasons behind preferring a male child are found to be compulsion of a woman to move to her husband's house post marriage, inheritance of property, rituals performed by sons, and dowry, among others.
- More women are educated, employed and earning than a decade ago they still do not have control over their earnings and childbirth.
What are the suggestions from the government in this regard?
- The government had introduced schemes Beti Bachao -Beti Padhao, Sukanya Samridhi Yojana, enhanced maternity leave and mandatory Crèches in workplaces for supporting female children and child births.
- Economic Survey recommended that the nation must confront the societal preference for male offspring.
- It has also called for a stronger commitment on the gender front similar to the government’s push for Ease of Doing Business.
- Equal participation by women in the labour force could push up the gross domestic product by 27 per cent.
- It’s axiomatic that women’s empowerment, education and agency in terms of deployment of their income, travel, etc. can lead to a big leap forward
Source: Business standard, the Hindu