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Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam

Part of the book series: Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development ((DTSD,volume 11))

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Abstract

This chapter covers the Indian case study. Skewed sex ratios disfavoring girls date back to colonial times where they were largely driven by infanticide, differences in nutrition and health, and postnatal neglect. Yet, since the introduction of ultrasound in the 1980s, prenatal sex selection has been on the rise. India has introduced a variety of policies to address sex selection including advocacy and conditional transfers. Yet, its approach has primarily focused on a strong legal ban, the PC-PNDT Act, on sex determination seeking to punish doctors who provide sex-selective services. There is little conclusive evidence that such a “methods-based” approach has had a significant effect on SRB. In order assess policy efficacy, I examine the district of Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar (formerly Nawanshahr) in the state of Punjab. The district became known for a rigorous government action against sex selection carried out in the mid 2000s. While there has been an overall improvement in SRB in the post-intervention period in all of Punjab, significant changes have been made in SBS Nagar, which can be directly linked to the intervention. Thanks to strong leadership and community mobilization policy efficacy was significantly improved. However, improvements came with the negative unintended side effect of infringing human rights and gender equality, which I discuss under “political masculinities.”

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Notes

  1. 1.

    First records of the emergence of socio-economic classes, kinship, caste system go back to the sixth Century BCE (Singh, 2008) and coincided with the rise of cities and kings in North India. The social and political changes at the time had important implications for gender, family and household relations. “Strict control over women’s sexuality and reproductive potential was essential for the patrilineal transmission of property and for the maintenance and perpetuation of the endogamous caste structure” (Singh, 2008, p. 295).

  2. 2.

    Diverse leaders had aspired India’s political unification during their various regimes, including the Buddhist Ashoka, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the British Wellesley, and most recently modern India’s first prime minster Nehru. Meanwhile, diverse regional forces like the ancient rulers of Kalinga (modern Odisha), the Rajputs, the Marathas, the Sikhs, or contemporary leaders of Kashmir, Punjab, and Assam have all struggled against central control and for autonomy (Walsh, 2006).

  3. 3.

    Linguistic unification was achieved by making English the official language of education (Ellis, 2009).

  4. 4.

    According to the 2017 Forbes ranking, India is the fourth country with the richest people worldwide (Dolan, 2017). India’s billionaires accumulate a net worth of over US$ 320 billion equivalent to approximately 13% of India’s GDP in 2017.

  5. 5.

    In this regard there is some fluidity in the caste system.

  6. 6.

    Stephen papers “Letter to Minnie” dated 19.12.1869 as cited in Hutchins (2015, p. 50).

  7. 7.

    Margaret Sanger herself visited India in 1935 to promote birth control. She was also involved in establishing the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in Bombay in 1952.

  8. 8.

    Around same time at the other end of the spectrum, sex-selective services became available in urban public hospitals and were increasingly being requested by the Indian elite to avoid unwanted female births (Hvistendahl, 2011).

  9. 9.

    This shift in the global agenda shows that policy feedback and learning from past policy experiences also applies in international governance.

  10. 10.

    A further important objective of the National Population Policy was to achieve 100% registration of births, deaths, marriage and pregnancy.

  11. 11.

    This was before the 2003 amendment of the PC&PNDT Act prohibiting preconception sex selection.

  12. 12.

    India Census Reports for respective years (see Census India, 2011).

  13. 13.

    Consider female literacy rate in India as an example. In 1951, only 8.9% of Indian women were literate vs. 65.5% in 2011. While in Kerala 92% of women are literate, Rajasthan has with 52.6% the lowest female literacy rate in the country according to the 2011 Census.

  14. 14.

    E.g. the laws on dowry and rape were tightened after national protests (Alfano, 2017).

  15. 15.

    Silent observer or active tracker is an electronic device that connects to ultrasound machines. It allows authorities to monitor and record the scans taken by doctors in order to reveal any misuse.

  16. 16.

    The PNDT Act was introduced in 1994 and came into effect in 1996.

  17. 17.

    I had the opportunity to meet the actress who played the daughter that escaped sex selection in the TV series during field research. When I met the young woman she was studying for her final exams and getting ready to go to college in the Unites States. She forms part of a remarkable family, in which three generations (grandfather, mother and daughter) have dedicated and continue to dedicate large portions of their lives for political activism against sex selection (through media, NGO, academic and political engagements).

  18. 18.

    This person by mistake happened to be a Pakistani military officer instead of an Indian officer.

  19. 19.

    Personal conversation with Guilmoto, 14.11.2016.

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    Laura Rahm

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Rahm, L. (2020). India. In: Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20234-7_6

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