Discrimination Begins in the Womb: Evidence of Sex-Selective Prenatal Investments

Bharadwaj, Prashant; Lakdawala, Leah K.

doi:10.1353/jhr.2013.0004

Cited by 80 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Our results suggest a wider focus, showing that the mother's stock of health, accumulation of which begins at her birth (Deaton, 2007;Bhalota, 2007;Bozzoli et al, 2009), is relevant to the health and life chances of her offspring. This is pertinent in developing countries, where there tends to be systematic underinvestment in the health of girls from the start (Bharadwaj & Nelson, 2010;Jayachandran & Kuziemko, 2009;Oster, 2009). We show that, taking the stock of maternal health as given at the birth of the child, investments in mother's education, economic growth, and public health provision all work to limit the extent to which children born to shorter women are condemned to poorer health and thereby poorer living standards in the long run.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries

Bhalotra

Rawlings

2013

The Review of Economics and Statistics

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This paper investigates the sensitivity of the intergenerational transmission of health to changes in the socioeconomic and public health environment into which children are born using individual survey data on 2.24 million children born to 600,000 mothers during the period 1970 to 2000 in 38 developing countries merged by country and cohort with macroeconomic data. We find that children are more likely to bear the penalty exerted by poor maternal health if they are conceived or born in adverse socioeconomic conditions. Equivalently, shocks to the child's birth environment are more damaging of children born to women with weaker health at birth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries

Bhalotra

Rawlings

2013

The Review of Economics and Statistics

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“…The author's interpretation is that parents with mixed gender children encourage their children to specialize by gender. Deaton (1989) and Bharadwaj and Nelson (2012) also find evidence that parents invest differentially in their children, depending on the gender. 3 The presence of a gender gap has been documented in Florida public schools by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a nation-wide assessment program which gives results on subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for students in grades 4, 8 and 12, and by the Florida Department of Education for the case of SAT scores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Born in the Family: Preferences for Boys and the Gender Gap in Math

Dossi

Figlio

Giuliano

et al. 2019

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We thank Alice Eagly for suggestions. We are especially grateful to the Florida Department of Education and Health for providing the linked population-level administrative data that permitted this analysis to take place. Luisa Cefala' provided excellent research assistantship. All errors and opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect those of the Florida Departments of Education and Health. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

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“…People in India exhibit a strong gender preference for male child and this discrimination or prejudice continues in spite of socioeconomic development and higher growth rates. 4,5 Dey et al found son preference to be 39.2%. 6 Also, in the study conducted at Surat by Thakkar et al, 22.2% women expressed their desire for a male child and 14.4% for a female child.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A study on compliance of antenatal care among the mothers attending immunisation clinic of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal

Chellaiyan

Adhikary

Das

et al. 2018

Int J Community Med Public Health

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Background: Gender discrimination is the unfair denial of opportunities and violation of their rights. Despite of discrimination laws and regulations, women are subjected to unequal treatment in all the phases of their life in India. The present study was conducted among antenatal women to determine their preference, if any, for male child and their awareness regarding technology and legality for sex determination of fetus in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: The study was a cross sectional study conducted among pregnant women aged 18 years and above attending antenatal clinic at Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi from June 2015- May 2016. Systematic random sampling method was used to include 238 study participants. A pre-tested, semi-structured, and self-administered questionnaire was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS v.21.0. Chi-square test was applied to test significance of difference (p˂0.05).Results: Among 238 study participants, mean age of study participants was 29 (±3.5) years. About 107 (45.0%) pregnant women had no gender preference. 88(37%) preferred male child, the major reasons quoted for male child preference were pressure from family 29 (32.95%) and social responsibilities carried by male 25 (28.40%). Only 43 (18.0%) women preferred a female child. 187 (78.57%) study participants, were aware regarding sex determination and 72 (30.25%) said private hospital preferred place for sex determination. 36.56% women had knowledge about the legal implications associated with sex determination.Conclusions: The present study showed the high existence of male preference in our society which is a common barrier in achieving reduced national fertility levels. So, there is every need to bring about changes in social, economic, and political structure in order to reduce gender inequality in India.

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Discrimination Begins in the Womb: Evidence of Sex-Selective Prenatal Investments

Cited by 80 publications

References 55 publications

Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries

Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries

Born in the Family: Preferences for Boys and the Gender Gap in Math

A study on compliance of antenatal care among the mothers attending immunisation clinic of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal

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