Small family norm aggravates female foeticide
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A strong son preference, coupled with socio-cultural and economic factors, more than anything else has lead to an imbalanced sex ratio in Rajasthan. There are also evidences of female foeticide and infanticide through sex-selective abortions, which have been responsible for the ‘missing girls’ in the state.
All this was revealed in a recent study conducted on “Two Child Norm (Small family norm), Female Feticide and the Missing Girls of Rajasthan” by the Jaipur based NGO, Social Policy Research Institute. The study, supported by IFES and USAID, attempts to find out whether the ‘two-child norm’ has any influence on female foeticide in Rajasthan. In 1992, to regulate family size and promote the small family model, the State of Rajasthan introduced the two-child norm, barring people with more than two children to stand for elections or hold any positions in the PRIs and urban local bodies (ULBs). This was soon followed by other states, such as Haryana (1993), Madhya Pradesh (2000), Orissa (1993), Andhra Pradesh (1993), Maharashtra (2003) and recently, Gujarat. The Government initiated this idea based on ‘leading by example’ – that Panchayat representatives could be role models with two children and set an example for the rest of the population to adopt similar family sizes. Some findings Sex/gender bias in health care is prevalent in Rajasthan, where there are also records of the highest rates of infant mortality in the country. This reveals that girls do not receive timely and adequate health care. The study also reflects on the prevailing adverse social and economic conditions for women. For example, while 82.3% women could decide on what is to be cooked in their homes, only 40.5% could decide on their health related issues. Almost 50% of women face violence at home from their husbands and only 27.4 % of female work participation was reported compared to males at 49.31%. The study points out that the lowering of the minimum age for contesting elections from 26 to 21 years has had immediate effect on a number of aspiring young men and women within the reproductive age group. A major finding was that the two-child norm had a considerable negative impact on the status of women. It lead to forced abortions, disowning of the girl child, neglect of the girl child in fulfilling political aspirations, abandonment and dissertation by the husband, disqualification due to family pressure for bearing male children and a very bad impact on women’s health due to repeated abortions. The study notes that the conventional patriarchal preference of a male child leads to thousands of cases of se- selective abortions. Women in Rajasthan are socially conditioned to accept that unless they produce one or more male children, they have no social worth. It is also striking to note that the awareness, accessibility and availability of sex determination techniques, especially sonography and ultra sound, were equally present in all the tehsils of all districts surveyed. Seventy-two per cent of these knew about sonography and its usage for sex determination, and as many were aware of the places where it could be conducted. Research was carried out in rural areas with special focus on Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in six districts – Jaisalmer, Barmer, Pali, Chittorgarh, Ganganagar and Jhunjhunu. The study also recommended for future research the linkage between two-child norm and female foeticide in rest of India. |
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