Amartya Sen set off a debate in development economics when he estimated that there are 100 million ‘missing women’ in the world, referring to the magnitude of female survival disadvantage due to unequal treatment in the intra-household allocation of
Yüklə 0,8 Mb.
|
- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Table 2: Trends in Sex ratio in India: A Statewise Decomposition
- INDIA 972 964 955 950
- Table 3: Sex Ratio and Child Sex Ratio in Rural and Urban Areas
- Chart 3: Regional Differentials in Child Sex Ratio
- C hart 4: Female Labour Force Participation Rate
- Table 4: Labour Force Participation Rate
- Chart 5: Female Literacy across 15 States
- Table 6: Some Important Indicators across communities
- Table 7: Nutritional Status: Gender Disaggregation 1
III. Interpreting DataThe present study is primarily based on secondary data collected from decennial Census Reports, Government of India, covering sex ratio, literacy rate and work participation rate in the rural and urban areas of major States of India. The point to be noted here is that the Census estimates of work force participation rate are lower than those estimated by the National Sample Survey (NSS) estimates. Census estimates are as much as 3 per cent lower than NSS estimates in the case of male workers, and as much as 10 to 16 per cent lower for female workers (Report on Human Development in South Asia, 2000). It is also to be noted that the work participation rate figures for the year 1971 of Assam includes Union Territory of Mizoram which was carved out of Assam after the 1971 census; therefore the longitudinal census figures for Assam may not be strictly comparable. As Census was not held in Assam during 1981, the data for that period is not available and hence had to be excluded from some data interpretations. The literacy rates for 1971 are not strictly comparable with 1981 census, as these rates have been worked out on the then jurisdiction, which was in existence. Socio-cultural variables such as dowry deaths, female infanticide, sex determination tests also tend to affect the sex ratio but our study is limited to few variables only due to paucity of these data across States over last four decades. Given equal access to intrahousehold resources including health and nutrition, females have an evident biological advantage of survival over males. Despite this biological advantage, the sex ratio is generally adverse to women in India. It is primarily the consequence of high levels of female mortality, which begins at birth, after birth or even before birth.  The decennial censuses conducted in India suggest that there has been an almost monotonic decline in the sex ratio in India. In 1901, the sex ratio was 972 females for every 1000 males; by 1991 it had reached the lowest point at 927. In Census 2001, the sex ratio increased by six points to 933. Statewise decomposition of the sex ratio over the period between 1901 and 2001 reveals mixed trends of social, cultural, economic and political influence on the relative magnitude of excess female mortality across the country. Table 2: Trends in Sex ratio in India: A Statewise Decomposition
Source: Census, Govt of India (various years) In 2001, only Kerala and Pondicherry have sex ratios of 1058 and 1001, respectively. The other States and Union Territories (UT), where the sex ratio is above 950, are Andhra Pradesh (978) Chattisgarh (990), Goa (960), Himachal Pradesh (970), Karnataka (964), Manipur (978), Meghalaya (975), Orissa (972), Tamil Nadu (986) and Uttaranchal (964). The North Indian belt of Delhi (821), Haryana (861), Punjab (874), Uttar Pradesh (898), along with Andaman and Nicobar Islands (846), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (811), and Sikkim (875), account for a large part of the alarmingly low sex ratio in India (Table 2). Although the overall sex ratio improved in Census 2001 compared to that of 1991, the child sex ratio (sex ratio in age group 0-6 years) declined to 927 in 2001 relative to 945 in 1991 (Chart 2). T Table 3: Sex Ratio and Child Sex Ratio in Rural and Urban Areas
Source: Census, Govt of India (various years) Following map shows how the condition of juvenile sex ratio has worsened in the last decade in urban and rural parts of the country. Chart 3: Regional Differentials in Child Sex Ratio 1991-rural 2001-rural  
1991-urban 2001-urban 
What determines these spatial variations in juvenile sex ratio? In explaining the trends and variations in the gender differential in child mortality or child sex ratio, much discussion has focused on the economic value of women measured by their labor force participation. The data analysis (chart 4) reveals that while almost all the States showed an improvement in Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in the last 4 decades, Kerala and Maharashtra exhibited a downward pattern in the last two decades. Haryana’s LFPR in 2001 surprisingly shot up to 27.22 per cent per cent from 10.76 per cent in 1991. Punjab indicated an irregular pattern in LFPR. It was 1.18 per cent in 1971, rose to 6.16 per cent in 1981, came down to 4.4 per cent in 1991 and then gone up to 19.05 per cent in 2001. C  hart 4: Female Labour Force Participation Rate However, it is to be noted that women’s contribution to the economy remains significantly invisible in national accounts. Although a certain degree of statistical invisibility of women in the economy is a global phenomenon, it is particularly predominant in India and other South Asian nations due to the orthodox socio-cultural milieu. The official labour force statistics do not incorporate the significant component of unpaid labour by women. However, the attempt of United Nations Statistical Division in extending the production boundary of Systems of National Accounts (SNA), 1993 has led to the inclusion of the activities of unpaid work of women into national accounting system as satellite accounts. This extended production boundary of SNA 1993 provides a better understanding of women’s contribution to the economy. The labour force participation rate may not be able to reveal these meticulous aspects of statistical invisibility of women’s work. It is also to be noted that Sen’s hypothesis that only “gainful work outside” improves the relative survival chances of girls and not often the inside work may not be able to test due to the data constraints on the women’s work within and outside, which has further complications in terms of paid and unpaid components. Table 4: Labour Force Participation Rate
Source: Census, Govt of India (various years) An equivalent analysis on literacy, particularly female literacy indicated a fairly good improvement over the decades in all the States (chart 5). Kerala ranked top (87.7 per cent) among all States in female literacy followed by Maharashtra (67 per cent), Tamil Nadu (64.4 per cent) and Punjab (63.4 per cent). West Bengal, Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka also showed tremendous improvement from 1971 to 2001. In general, though literacy among females has increased over time, the level of female literacy has been lower than that of males even in urban areas (Table 5). The low level of female educational attainment results in women’s low earning potential, low nutritional status, high level of mortality and low financial and functional autonomy within households, which in turn has positive impact on sex ratio. Chart 5: Female Literacy across 15 States  Table 5: Region wise Literacy Rates-1991 and 2001
Source: Census, Govt of India (various years) Although our study is confined to major regions of India only, it would be very interesting to see the status of the girl child across religions also. Table 6 below presents some important facts relative to different communities. Table 6: Some Important Indicators across communities
Source: First Report on Religion data, 2001. The child sex ratio of Hindus that accounts for maximum proportion of the population is 925 as compared to Muslims which is 950. The Sikh community has the lowest child sex ratio (786) followed by the Jains (870). Overall sex ratio of Muslims (936) is slightly better than Hindus (931) which is less than even the national average of 933 women for every 1000 men. Christians recorded the highest sex ratio (1009) whereas Sikhs again reported the least (893). Female literacy among Sikhs and Jains is encouraging compared to other religions. Despite that, the two communities have the lowest child sex ratios. The hypothesis related to the link between intrahousehold gender differentials in health seeking behavior requires microlevel data for empirical investigation. As noted by earlier studies, the only variable that reflects these aspects from the secondary level data is the nutrition data revealed from anthropometrics. The nutritional status of children under three years calculated on the basis of anthropometric data by National Family Health Survey (NFHS) (second round) revealed that around half of children under three are underweight, with 45.3 per cent male and 48.9 per cent female children disadvantaged nutritionally (Table 7). Table 7: Nutritional Status: Gender Disaggregation1
Yüklə 0,8 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
