Uncertainity And Discrimination: Family Structure And Declining Sex Ratios In Rural India

This article builds upon the recognition that the declining child sex ratios are a result of an ongoing process of societal change. Looking at areas both in the north and in the south which have shown significant decline in the child sex ratios between 1991 and 2001, the article draws on preliminary results from recently conducted field studies in rural areas of Karnataka in the South and of Uttaranchal in the North. In order to understand why the lives of female children are at risk and why there is an increasing discrimination against girls in India, it is particularly important to consider the intra-household allocation of resources. We will argue that parents, as a reaction to the uncertainty that those very changes produce, ‘fall back’ on traditional norms regarding gender and domestic roles. This makes the bargaining situation and the criteria for the allocation of resources highly adversarial for girls, creating a structure in which there is little space for daughters.