Sunita Bose

THE EFFECT OF WOMEN'S STATUS AND COMMUNITY ON THE GENDER DIFFERENTIAL IN CHILDREN'S NUTRITION IN INDIA

This study uses the third National Family Health Survey (2005-06) in India to investigate whether differences in womens status, both at the individual and community levels, can explain the persistent gender differential in nutritional allocation among children. The results show that girls are less likely than boys to receive supplemental food and more likely to be malnourished. In general it appears that higher womens status within a community, as well as higher maternal status, have beneficial effects on a daughters nutritional status. Further, the moderating effects of community appear to be more consistent and stronger than the individual-level characteristics. A positive relationship between the percentage of literate women in a community and the gender differential in malnutrition appears to be an exception to the general findings regarding the beneficial nature of womens status on a daughters well-being, showing the need for more than just basic adult literacy drives in communities to overcome the problem of daughter neglect.

Socio-demographic determinants of abortion in India: a north-South comparison.

Data from the 1998-99 National Family Health Survey (NFHS2) of India are used to examine the net effects of social and demographic characteristics of women on the likelihood of abortion while emphasizing important differences between women from northern and southern states. A north-south comparison illustrates that southern women have relatively higher levels of literacy and labour force participation, lower levels of son preference, and smaller family size. Results from logistic regression analyses show that literacy, type of work, belonging to a scheduled caste or tribe, urban residence, standard of living, parity, religion, age, age at union and contraceptive behaviour all have significant effects on the likelihood of abortion. However, most of these effects significantly differ for southern and northern women. Moreover, the effects of agricultural work, son preference and age at union on the likelihood of abortion are significant for northern but not southern women.

Skewed Sex Ratios and Criminal Victimization in India

Although substantial research has explored the causes of India’s excessively masculine population sex ratio, few studies have examined the consequences of this surplus of males. We merge individual-level data from the 2004–2005 India Human Development Survey with data from the 2001 India population census to examine the association between the district-level male-to-female sex ratio at ages 15 to 39 and self-reports of victimization by theft, breaking and entering, and assault. Multilevel logistic regression analyses reveal positive and statistically significant albeit substantively modest effects of the district-level sex ratio on all three victimization risks. We also find that higher male-to-female sex ratios are associated with the perception that young unmarried women in the local community are frequently harassed. Household-level indicators of family structure, socioeconomic status, and caste, as well as areal indicators of women’s empowerment and collective efficacy, also emerge as significant predictors of self-reported criminal victimization and the perceived harassment of young women. The implications of these findings for India’s growing sex ratio imbalance are discussed.

The Consequences of India’s Male Surplus for Women’s Partnering and Sexual Experiences

Data from the third wave of India’s 2005-2006 National Family and Health Survey are used to examine the influence of the community-level sex ratio on several dimensions of women’s partnering behavior and sexual experiences. Multilevel logistic regression models that control for individual demographic attributes and community-level characteristics reveal that the local male-to-female sex ratio is positively and significantly associated with the likelihood that women marry prior to age 16 and have experienced forced sex. These associations are modest in magnitude. However, no significant associations are observed between the sex ratio and whether women have had two or more lifetime sexual partners or women’s risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Birth cohort, education, religion, caste, region, urban residence, and several community-level measures of women’s status also emerge as significant predictors of Indian women’s partnering and sexual experiences. The implications of our results for India’s growing surplus of adult men are discussed.

A Contextual Analysis of Gender Disparity in Education in India: The Relative Effects of Son Preference, Women's Status, and Community

Multi-level analyses of data on 18,519 families with opposite sex children from NFHS-3 are used to test the impact of maternal son preference and context on the gender differential in education in India. The results show that girls are at a greater educational disadvantage compared to their brothers in families with maternal son preference. Mothers education is shown to reduce the effect of son preference and to reduce the bias against daughters. Additionally, there is more gender inequality in education in communities with high levels of maternal son preference and low womens status. Importantly, a familys location in a community or region with higher womens status explains much of the effect of maternal son preference on the gender disparity. The importance of context is further solidified by significant interaction effects showing that the negative effect of mothers education is modified by context.