Declining sex ratio in India's 80pc districts: UNICEF

Jaipur, Dec 22: India still faces a declining girl to boy child sex ratio in 80 per cent of all districts due to a high number of early marriages and high infant and maternal mortality rates, according to UNICEF's State of the World Children, 2007 report.

The report found these are all directly linked to the attitudes towards women and their lack of access to basic services.

The report surveyed that while the average age of marriage in India has been rising slowly over the past 20 years, the practice of child marriage is still widespread and young girls suffer most as a result of it.

Birth histories and census data reveal an unusually high proportion of male births and male children under five in Asia, notably in China and India suggesting sex-selective foeticide and infanticide in the world's two most populous countries.

The report also found that majority of out-of-school children are girls from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, with more than half of these children living in districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Family and social structures in India place significant responsibilites on women to care for their families but without the rights of decision making within the homes or society.

The report says women are still denied equal opportunities in almost every field and are generally without a voice in politics as well as in decision making related to their health care and household expenditure.

The SOWC report suggests that all obstacles to gender equality regardless of origin must be dismantled so that the development furthers.

UNI