Attachments: Son Preference & Daughter
Neglect in India-ICRW 2006.pdf
WUNRN
ICRW - International Center for Research on
Women
INDIA
SON PREFERENCE AND DAUGHTER NEGLECT IN
INDIA
WHETHER PARENTS DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A
DAUGHTER DEPENDS ON THE SEX OF HER OLDER SIBLINGS.
LIVING GIRLS FACE DISCRIMINATION, BUT ALL
GIRLS ARE NOT EQUALLY VULNERABLE.
That son preference leads to adverse sex ratios and
excess female child mortality is well documented. But, what happens to girls who
are born and who survive? Our analysis shows that during early childhood, girls
suffer health and nutritional discrimination. By age 5, 6% more girls than boys
are unvaccinated. Not all girls, however, are equally vulnerable to these forms
of discrimination. Rather, WHETHER PARENTS DISCRIMINATE AGAINST A
DAUGHTER DEPENDS ON THE SEX OF HER OLDER SIBLINGS. These results are
consistent with the finding that at least some daughters are desired even in a
culture where many are not.
Specifically, IF PARENTS ALREADY HAVE SONS,
THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO NURTURE A DAUGHTER, than if she is at the end
of a line of only daughters. Girls with two or more brothers and no older
sisters are significantly less likely to be stunted than a boy with only
brothers. But, if a family already has a daughter, they are less likely to
nurture a second. Girls with two or more older sisters are the most neglected.
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