Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India: The Role of Women's Agency, an Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Over the decades, the child sex ratio (CSR) is found to be declining in India. Declining CSR has been one of the biggest social problems in India; the problem is assumed to be deep-rooted because economic growth or social progress fails to correct the adverse CSR in India. The proposed research tries to evaluate the impact of women's agency along with some affirmative actions (toward empowering women) on CSR in India. The role of women's agency is assumed to be significant toward correcting the adverse CSR. However, it is confined to two variables like female literacy rate (FLR) and female work force participation rate (FWFPR). Women agency should take into account women's ability to make effective choices and to transform those choices into desired outcomes. Therefore, in order to explore the effect of some affirmative actions in explaining the variations of CSR across the states in India, three popular schemes, namely, Self Help Group (SHG), Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), and Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY), are used in the present analysis.

Pooled regression shows that FWFPR has a positive impact on CSR but FLR has a nonlinear relationship with the CSR. It is found that the SHG has positive but the KSY has negative effect on CSR; the other variable like RMK does not play any significant role toward variations of CSR. States showing higher concentration of ST population are found to be conducive to favorable CSR compared to SC population. Per capita net state domestic product (PCNSDP) has a similar effect like FLR. This study also finds significant discriminating role (against female child) of major states compared to minor states and UTs. Therefore, the role of women's agency toward improving CSR needs to be highlighted more profoundly in Indian context.

Citation

Bhattacharyya, A. and Haldar, S.K. (2023), "Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India: The Role of Women's Agency, an Empirical Analysis", Chakraborty, C. and Pal, D. (Ed.) Gender Inequality and its Implications on Education and Health, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-180-620231002