TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender regimes, reproductive strategies and child sex preferences

T2 - A comparative study of villages in Jammu and Leh

AU - Vasudev, Charumita

AU - Kaur, Ravinder

PY - 2022/3/31

Y1 - 2022/3/31

N2 - Much of the literature on sex ratio imbalances in India has focused on the North–South divide or exclusively on the North-western states of India. In this paper, we draw on ethnographic research on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the child sex ratio (0–6 years) plummeted in the 2011 census. We study two villages in the Hindu dominated district of Jammu and two in largely Buddhist Leh (in Ladakh) to understand how the gender preference for children is shaped in this culturally heterogeneous state. Our findings reiterate the importance of context in understanding sex ratio patterns and gender preferences for children, especially in the wake of declining fertility, which in some regions has led to intensified discrimination against girl children. We examine features such as the organization of kinship and marriage structures that entail diverse forms of post-marital residence, old-age support, workforce participation, household division of labor and political participation in the four villages. By engaging in detailed comparison, we propose that when underlying reasons for the devaluation of women in general, and daughters in particular, are absent (as in case of the Leh villages), the availability of sex-selective technologies does not have an adverse effect on demographic outcomes.

AB - Much of the literature on sex ratio imbalances in India has focused on the North–South divide or exclusively on the North-western states of India. In this paper, we draw on ethnographic research on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the child sex ratio (0–6 years) plummeted in the 2011 census. We study two villages in the Hindu dominated district of Jammu and two in largely Buddhist Leh (in Ladakh) to understand how the gender preference for children is shaped in this culturally heterogeneous state. Our findings reiterate the importance of context in understanding sex ratio patterns and gender preferences for children, especially in the wake of declining fertility, which in some regions has led to intensified discrimination against girl children. We examine features such as the organization of kinship and marriage structures that entail diverse forms of post-marital residence, old-age support, workforce participation, household division of labor and political participation in the four villages. By engaging in detailed comparison, we propose that when underlying reasons for the devaluation of women in general, and daughters in particular, are absent (as in case of the Leh villages), the availability of sex-selective technologies does not have an adverse effect on demographic outcomes.

KW - Son-preference

KW - child sex ratio

KW - fertility decline

KW - gender roles

KW - religion

KW - Jammu

U2 - 10.1080/12259276.2021.2023283

DO - 10.1080/12259276.2021.2023283

M3 - Journal article

VL - 28

SP - 111

EP - 130

JO - Asian Journal of Women's Studies

JF - Asian Journal of Women's Studies

SN - 1225-9276

IS - 1

ER -