India’s sex ratio at birth has improved, according to Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani. However, such a claim seems very much dependent on the figures used. Irani credited the Centre’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Save Daughter, Educate Daughter) initiative with the improvement while speaking at an event last Friday. The disparity […]
sex ratio
The district highlighting India’s sex ratio problem
A district in Uttarakhand reflects a broader issue concerning India’s sex ratio, according to a recent report in The Times of India. In 132 of the Uttarkashi district’s villages, not a single girl was born in three months out of 216 deliveries. The concerning figures, collected from the state health department, potentially cast a spotlight […]
Sex-selective abortion in India: It’s worse than you think
At the age of 28, Madhuri had three daughters and no son. With a dream to have a son and to fulfil her family’s demands, she became pregnant again. But this time she couldn’t take any chance and illegally undertook a sex determination test. As soon as she was told that it is a girl, […]
The high death toll of gender discrimination
Gender discrimination and missing women The price of gender discrimination in India is the lives of almost 240,000 girls under five every year. Much attention is given in India to the issue of female foeticide. Sex-selective abortions are considered the major driver of India’s skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) and its resultant 63 million […]
India failing its women on health, as the gender gap widens
The gender gap is widening in India. It ranks 108 of 144 countries on the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report – dropping 21 places from last year, which saw India ranked 87th. Failing to break the top 100 The WEF measures countries across four indicators: educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity, […]