Male Child Still Preferred

Census 2011 gave the numbers; a Delhi University study gave the attitude behind them. In the capital, 44% of respondents said they preferred a male child — and the child sex ratio in Delhi stood at just 866 girls per 1,000 boys, barely changed from 868 a decade earlier.

The survey was conducted over six months as part of a UGC-sponsored project by the Institute of Home Economics (IHE), Delhi University. Associate professor Parveen Pannu and assistant professors Yuki Azaad and Neeti Azad surveyed nearly 200 married men and women across Delhi and Noida, spread across three income groups; 61% of the respondents were graduates.

Awareness was high, action was not. As many as 85% of women aged 18–40 said they were fully aware of the evil of female foeticide, more than their husbands and mothers-in-law. And 90% of respondents said their religion did not allow foeticide — yet 3% admitted they had gone in for a sex determination test on the sly, mostly at the insistence of their in-laws.

"The problem of female foeticide is still grave in the city and is more prevalent in higher income groups," Pannu said. She added that young married women showed a better attitude towards the girl child than men and older women.

The study also found that 92% of respondents agreed that a constantly shrinking number of girls would push up the crime rate. Most knew sex determination was illegal under the PNDT Act, but 97% did not know it could lead to three years of imprisonment. Awareness itself came largely from public service announcements — 65% cited them as their source, against just 30% who learned from doctors and midwives.

Reporting: The Times of India.