Female infanticide in Tamil Nadu, India: From recognition back to denial?

Reproductive Health Matters

Volumn 5, Issue 10, 1997, Pages 124-132

  George, Sabu M ^a  

^a GOVERNMENT MEDICAL COLLEGE   (India)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CHILDHOOD MORTALITY; CULTURAL FACTOR; FEMALE; GOVERNMENT; HUMAN; INDIA; INFANTICIDE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; SELECTIVE ABORTION;

EID: 0031408055     PISSN: 09688080     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/s0968-8080(97)90093-8     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Ravindran TKS, 1997. Health implications of gender discrimination in childhood: unravelling the complexities. World Health Organization, Geneva. (forthcoming)
2. Anderson JW, Moore M, 1993. Oppressed: women in the developing world face cradle to grave discrimination and poverty. Washington Post. 14 February. Washington DC. A1.
3. Ramanamma A, Bambawale U, 1980. The mania for sons: an analysis of social values in South Asia. Social Science and Medicine. 14B:107.
4. Patel V, 1989. Sex determination and sex pre-selection tests in India: modern techniques for femicide. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 21:2.
5. Advertisement. India Abroad. New York, Septemer 1988.
6. Mitra A, 1993. Female foeticide. A primitive trend practised the world over. Down to Earth. 31 October. 43.
7. Kristof ND, 1993. Peasants of China discover new ways to weed out girls. New York Times. 21 July. 1.
8. Stephen JD, 1991. Sexing the fetus. Lancet. 338:1336. Cases of female infanticide are sensationalised by the media in Canada.
9. Das Gupta M, Mari Bhat PN, 1996. Intensified gender bias in India: a consequence of fertility decline. Presented at Annual Meeting, Population Association of America, New Orleans, May.
10. Iyengar P, 1992. Girls in Salem are born to die. Times of India. 24 August. Bombay. 1.
11. Aravamudan G, 1994 The killing fields: female infanticide. Week. 3 April. Kottayam. 12
12. Bumiller E, 1990. May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons. Random House, New York.
13. Basu AM, 1989. Is discrimination in food really necessary for explaining sex differentials in childhood mortality? Population Studies. 43:193-210.
14. Vaasanthi, 1994. Born to die: tragedy of the doomed daughter. Hindu. 20 November. Madras. V.
15. George SM, Abel R, Miller BD, 1992. Female infanticide in South Indian villages. Economic and Political Weekly. 27:1153.
16. Venkatachalam R, Srinivasan V, 1993. Female Infanticide. HarAnand, New Delhi.
17. Harris-White B, 1997. Development and death: adverse child sex-ratios in rural Tamil Nadu. Frontline. 4 April. Madras. 89.
18. George SM, Latham MC, Abel R et al, 1993. An evaluation of good growth monitoring in South Indian villages. Lancet. 342:348.
19. Nielsen BB, Liljestrand J, Hedegaard M et al, 1997. Reproductive pattern, perinatal mortality, and sex preference in rural Tamil Nadu, South India: community-based, crosssectional study. BMJ. 314(May): 1521-24.
20. George SM, 1995. The government response to female infanticide in Tamil Nadu: from recognition back to denial? Paper presented at MIDS-ICSSR 25th Interdisciplinary Research Methodology Workshop for Southern States. Kottayam, August.
21. Chunkath SR, Athreya VB, 1997. Female infanticide in Tamil Nadu: some evidence. Economic and Political Weekly. 26 April. WS-21.
22. Athreya VB, Chunkath SR, 1997. Gender discrimination strikes: disquieting aspects of early neonatal deaths in Tamil Nadu. Frontline. 11 July. Madras. 94.
23. This figure comes from the author's personal knowledge after years of work in North Arcot and Madurai districts, but see also [20].
24. Kielmann AA, Taylor CE, DeSweemer C et al, 1983. Child and Maternal Health Services in Rural India: The Narangwal Experiment. Vol 1. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
25. Das Gupta M, 1987. Selective discrimination against female children in rural Punjab. Population & Development Review. 13:77.
26. Muhuri PK, Preston SH, 1991. Effects of family composition on mortality differentials by sex among children in Matlab, Bangladesh. Population & Development Review. 17:415.
27. Venkatramani SH, 1986. Female infanticide: born to die. India Today. 28, 15 June. 28.
28. Iyengar P, 1993. Female infanticide: sex ratio in Tamil Nadu dips. Times of India. 30 January, Bombay. 1.
29. George SM, 1995. The practices of female infanticide and female feticide: responses by Non-Governmental Organisations. Towards Prevention of Female Infanticide. Sekhar JMK, George SM et al (eds.) Centre for Rural Health and Social Education, Tirupatur.
30. Personal communications with members of SIRD during 1994-5.
31. Dr J Jayalalitha 15-Point Programme for Child Welfare. Government of Tamil Nadu, Department of Social Welfare, November 1993, Madras.
32. Father gets life term for female infanticide. Hindu. November 6 1992, Madras.
33. Renganathan A, Antonysamy, Sivanandhan. 1995. Female infanticide in Salem district. Report prepared by VRDP, Omalur and CEDA Trust, Dindigul.
34. Schemes to make Salem district female friendly. Hindu. June 9 1994, Madras.
35. Kirubhakaran R. Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme Department, Government Order, Ms No 533, 13 October 1992, Madras.
36. Kirubhakaran R. Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme Department Government Order, Ms No 184, 13 July 1993, Madras.
37. Kirubhakaran R. Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme Department, Government Order, Ms No 533, 11 October 1993, Madras.
38. Kirubhakaran R. Secretary to Government of Tamil Nadu, Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme Department, Government Order, Ms No 21, 19 January 1994, Madras.
39. Personal communication with an NGO worker in Madurai, October 1994.
40. Personal communication with an NGO worker in Madurai, March 1995.
41. Personal observations from field work in 1996-97 in Haryana. For female infanticide practice see Miller BD, 1981. The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India. Cornell University Press, New York. Supportive evidence of widespread sex-specific abortions in the 1980s-90s can be obtained from sex ratios at birth (males per hundred females) which is highest in the North Western states in India (115 and 113 for Haryana and Punjab respectively). See Women in India: A Statistical Profile, 1997. Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, New Delhi, 1997. The sex ratio of hospital births in Punjab in 1988 was 122.
42. Personal observations from field work in 1996-97 in Haryana. For female infanticide practice see Miller BD, 1981. The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India. Cornell University Press, New York. Supportive evidence of widespread sex-specific abortions in the 1980s-90s can be obtained from sex ratios at birth (males per hundred females) which is highest in the North Western states in India (115 and 113 for Haryana and Punjab respectively). See Women in India: A Statistical Profile, 1997. Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India, New Delhi, 1997. The sex ratio of hospital births in Punjab in 1988 was 122.
43. Martorell R, Rivera J, Kaplowitz H et al, 1992. Long-term consequences of growth retardation during early childhood. Human Growth: Basic and Clinical Aspects. Hernandez M, Argente J (eds).
44. George SM, Haas JD, Latham MC, 1994. Nutrition education can reduce gender inequity in growth of pre-school children in rural South India. Paper presented at American Institute of Nutrition Meeting, FASEB, Anaheim CA, USA. April.
45. Batliwala S, 1994. The meaning of women's empowerment: new concepts from action. Population Policies Reconsidered. Sen G, Germain A, Chen LC (eds). Harvard University Press, Boston.