A Cross Sectional Study on Awareness of Sex Determination Techniques & Gender Preference Among Married Women in An Urban Slum of Maharashtra

Authors

  • Rahul Bedre Government Medical College, Bidar, Karnataka
  • Harsha Solanki Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India

Keywords:

Sex determination, Gender Preference, Urban Slum in Maharashtra

Abstract

Background: Skewed sex ratio is an issue of major concern & has long term Sociodemograhic consequences which may be due to patriarchal social framework & strong son desire in India. The problem is getting worse as scientific methods of sex determination & termination of pregnancy are improving leading to female feticide. Hence the present study tries to evaluate knowledge & practice of sex-determination techniques & reasons for son preference gender among married women in an urban slum of Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Methodology: A community based, cross-sectional study was carried out among 900 married women of reproductive age group selected by systematic random sampling in an urban slum of community of Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Results: the present study shows that most of the women were muslims & they were educated. In spite of good education most of the women were engaged in household work. Most of the women i.e. 58.8% were aware of sex determination practices of which majority knew the method & place of sex determination as well as majority knew that sex determination is crime & few women were aware about the penalty for the same. Overall male child preference was seen in 49.6% women. The desire for male child becomes stronger as the number of girl child increases. Major reasons for male child preference were to carry forward family name & business, for their old age support & to carry out religious function.

Conclusion: The present study reflects that knowledge of sex determination techniques were quite good among study women as well as they were having strong preference for male child.

References

Population Census 2011: sex ratio available at: http://www.census2011.co.in/sexratio.php, Accessed on 7 Feb, 2014.

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Sabu M george, Ranbir S Dahiya. Female foeticide in Rural Haryana. Economic and Political Weekly 33(32), 1998; 2191-2198.

A.J.Singh & A.K.Arora. Status of Sex Determination Test in North India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 2006:31(1); 41-43.

S. Puri, V. Bhatia and HM Swami. Gender Preference and Awareness Regarding Sex Determination among Married Women in Slums of Chandigarh. Indian Journal of Community Medicine. 2007: 32 (1), 60-63.

Mutharayappa R, Arnold F & Roy T.K. Son Preference & its impact on fertility in India, National family health subject reports no. 3, Mumbai: International Institute for Population Sciences.

Sunday Times of India: Son Preference in India, Mumbai May 11-2000.

Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, MOHFW, United Nations Population Fund; Missing...Mapping the Adverse Child Sex Ratio in India. 2003. Pg.1.

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Published

2014-03-31

How to Cite

1.
Bedre R, Solanki H. A Cross Sectional Study on Awareness of Sex Determination Techniques & Gender Preference Among Married Women in An Urban Slum of Maharashtra. Natl J Community Med [Internet]. 2014 Mar. 31 [cited 2024 Nov. 3];5(01):85-7. Available from: https://njcmindia.com/index.php/file/article/view/1324

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Section

Original Research Articles