Gender Discrimination and Development Paradox

Book Details

• Publisher: Rawat Publications

• Author: Neerja Ahlawat

• Language: English

• Edition: 1st Edition, 2016

• ISBN: 9788131607749

• Pages: 210

• Cover: Hardcover

• Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches

About the Book

India’s economic growth story has not translated into corresponding progress in the social sphere, particularly in gender equality. Despite improvements in health care, literacy, and job opportunities, gender relations and sex ratios, especially the child sex ratio, remain starkly unbalanced. The book highlights a disturbing paradox in India's development: the growing use of sex-selective technologies, such as ultrasound, which are misused to select sons and deselect daughters. This alliance between tradition and technology continues to worsen the child sex ratio, leading to the rise of female foeticide and infanticide.

This volume delves deep into the multi-layered dimensions of the child sex ratio issue, offering research and insights on the cultural, socio-economic, and technological factors contributing to this crisis. Scholars from diverse backgrounds examine the strategies and policies that could reverse this damaging trend. By understanding the systemic nature of this gender-based discrimination, the book calls for both social and legal reforms to address these deep-rooted issues.

Contents:

1. Destruction and Denial of Motherhood / Virinder Singh

2. Child Sex Ratios and Gender Discrimination / Mary E. John

3. Eliminating Daughters: An Unfortunate Reality of West and North–West India / Anjali Radkar

4. Eliminating Daughters and Selecting Sons / Neerja Ahlawat

5. Women and the Conservative Backlash in Society and Media / Manjeet Rathee

6. Dispensing with Daughters: Exploring the Socio-Economic and Cultural Dimensions of Female Foeticide and Infanticide / Anjali Dewan

7. Behavioural Categorization of Women Based on Empowerment Level and the Extent of Son-Preference / Dweepika Kumari

8. Ensuring Dignity of the Girl Child / Jaya Kritika Ojha and Binod Mishra

9. Combating Female Foeticide: PCPNDT Act and Its Implementation / Mitu Khurana

10. Female Foeticide / Sudha Yadav

11. Girl Child Discrimination Since Conception of Life / Sonu Dehmiwal

About the Author

Neerja Ahlawat is a professor at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, and the Hon. Deputy Director of the Women's Studies Centre. She coordinates the UN Women project titled "Gender Biased Sex Selection: A Study of Haryana." Ahlawat has published extensively on topics such as gender studies, violence against women, male marriage squeeze, skewed child sex ratios, and political economy in Haryana. Her earlier works include Women Organizations and Social Networks and Crises of Social Transformation in India (co-editor).