Gender preference and female feticide in society: A study on knowledge, attitude and practices of couples.

Dr. Prachi Dixit; Dr. Maria Tomy Prothasis

Volume : IX, Issue : V, May - 2019

Gender preference and female feticide in society: A study on knowledge, attitude and practices of couples.

Dr. Prachi Dixit, Dr. Maria Tomy Prothasis

Abstract :

Introduction Female as a gender is undesirable in Indian Society , even after lot of discussions on women empowerment practices like female feticide are still rampant. Aim To determine the extent of gender preference in couples, factors influencing gender preference and attitude of couple regarding pre natal gender selection. Method Hospital based, cross sectional, qualitative and quantitative, questionnaire based research. Results Out of 300 couples interviewed only 30(10%) of males and 39(13%) of females preferred son over daughter. Most of them who submitted to have preference for son belonged to lower socioeconomic class and were less qualified On determining the level of information regarding prenatal sex determination techniques, a large no. i.e. 232(77.3%) males and 219(73%) females were well informed about the techniques. 79.6%males and 79%females were aware that female feticide is leading to a declining sex ratio. But only 58.6%males and 38%females could guess about implications of killing the female fetus and a skewed sex ratio. Our study revealed that there were many males 71(23.6%) and females 62 (20.6%) who knew sex determination and female feticide can be done at private or government set ups. Conclusion The findings of this study favour the fact that status of women on society is on the path of betterment at small pace. Still, there is long way to go. Laws on PNDT are still not able to reach the defaulters in totality