Around 239000 girls under the age of five die each year in India due to gender discrimination, as per the Lancet Global Health journal that was released on May 14, 2018.
These deaths amount to about 2.4 million deaths in a decade, however, this number does not include pre-natal mortality rates. According to the study, 29 out of Indian 35 States and UTs contributed to the death of these girls. Moreover, additional deaths were found in 90 percent of districts in the country.
| Points to Remember |
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Highlights of the study
• The average level of avoidable mortality in 0-4 years age of girls in India was 18.5 per 1000 live births between 2000-2005.
Reality Check
• This problem was most prominent in northern India, where the four largest states Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh accounted for two-thirds of the total avoidable deaths of infant girls under the age of five.
• The worst affected areas were typically in rural regions, having low levels of education, high population densities and high birth rates.
| Gender bias | Gender equality |
| Gender bias towards girls doesn't simply prevent them from being born; it also leads to the death of those who are born. | Gender equality is not only about rights to education, employment or political representation. It is also about care, vaccination, and nutrition of girls, and ultimately survival. |
Outlook
• The findings press for the need of addressing the issue of gender discrimination in addition besides encouraging social and economic development.
• Many of the deaths of girl child are partly due to unwanted female child attitude in a society that has a preference for sons.
• A preference for boys and the availability of sex-selective operations, although illegal in India, has led to gender gap of as many as 63 million girls, showcasing India as a country with one of the most distorted sex ratios in the world.
• For every 107 males born in India, there are 100 females.
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