Female-Male Ratio (FMR)
India is known to be one of the few countries
with a female-male ratio (FMR : females per 1000 males; or sex ratio/SR) that
has continued to be adverse to women. The disadvantages surrounding Indian
women's capacity to survive that leads to this imbalance, are rooted in a
complex web of socio-cultural factors . While gender-based
differentials in mortality are seen by some as the main cause behind low
FMRs, others have traced the roots of these differentials to an ethos of
discrimination against women, which is manifested in their unequal access to
life supporting resources such as food, nutrition and health care, specially
during childhood . [i] Widespread gender-biased
practices thus serve to distort the FMRs among child populations of various ages
, finally culminating in the male dominant
FMR of our population .
Table D 6 shows the trends in the general and
child sex ratios (CSR : pertaining to the age group 0-6 years) for West Bengal,
India and selected states Historically the West Bengal FMR has been adverse for women to a greater extent as compared to the
all-India situation but there has also been a secular rise in the state's FMR so
that it is now marginally above the all-India FMR. During 1991-2001 West Bengal
recorded the fourth largest gain in
the FMR/SR , rising from 917 to 934 while the all-India FMR/SR showed a comparatively small gain from 927 to 933.
Kerala remains the only state with an SR that is well above 1000. These trends
are illustrated in the preceding Chart D I.According to the 1991 census the SR
for Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in West Bengal stood at 964 ( as compared to
972 for all-India) and that for Scheduled Caste (SC) population was 931 (vis-à-vis
922 for all-India). District-wise SRs as well as CSRs will be found in
Appendix Table AD 1, which provides detailed demographic profiles for each of the districts of West Bengal.
|
Table
D 6: |
Trends
in Sex Ratio (SR) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR) for West Bengal
India and selected states |
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Sex Ratio (SR) |
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Child
Sex Ratio (CSR) Age 0-6 years |
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change |
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|
change |
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|
1951 |
1971 |
1991 |
2001 |
1991-2001 |
1991 |
2001 |
1991-2001 |
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|
Bihar |
1054 |
954 |
907 |
921 |
14 |
953 |
938 |
-15 |
|
Gujarat |
952 |
934 |
934 |
921 |
-13 |
928 |
878 |
-50 |
|
Karnataka |
966 |
957 |
960 |
964 |
4 |
960 |
949 |
-11 |
|
Kerala |
1028 |
1016 |
1036 |
1058 |
22 |
958 |
963 |
5 |
|
Maharashtra |
941 |
930 |
934 |
922 |
-12 |
946 |
917 |
-29 |
|
Mizoram |
1041 |
946 |
958 |
878 |
20 |
969 |
971 |
2 |
|
Orissa |
1022 |
988 |
971 |
972 |
1 |
967 |
950 |
-17 |
|
Punjab |
844 |
865 |
882 |
874 |
-8 |
875 |
793 |
-82 |
|
Tamil
Nadu |
921 |
911 |
974 |
986 |
12 |
948 |
939 |
-9 |
|
Rajasthan |
1007 |
978 |
910 |
922 |
12 |
916 |
909 |
-7 |
|
Uttar
Pradesh |
910 |
879 |
879 |
898 |
22 |
927 |
916 |
-11 |
|
W.
Bengal |
865 |
891 |
917 |
934 |
17 |
967 |
963 |
-4 |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All-India |
946 |
930 |
927 |
933 |
6 |
945 |
927 |
-18 |
Source : K.Srinivasan, "Sex Ratios : What
They Hide and What They Reveal", EPW, 17-24 December 1994, Table 1 and
Mahendra K.Premi, "The Missing Girl Child", EPW, 26 May 2001, Table 2.
[i] Satish Balram Agnihotri, Sex Ratio Patterns in the Indian Population : A Fresh Exploration, New Delhi 2000, p. 33.