Gender Inequality and Family Planning

Current population of India is 1.21 billion and the sex ratio is 914 females per 1,000 males, which clearly states that there is gender inequality. Though this sex ratio at a surface glance does not look problematic; however, we have to keep in mind that India represents almost 17.31 percent of the world’s population. Prediction of India’s population by the end of 2030 is more than 1.53 billion. By then, population growth in India will trigger wide gap between males and the females.

China’s population has increased to 1.37 billion, where 51.27 percent of the total populations are males and 48.73 percent are females. The sex ratio of male-to-female is 118.06. China is the most populous country in the world and India is home to second largest population.

Gender inequality in China and India really matters when sex ratio of the world population is taken into consideration.

Imbalance of sex ratio in China is because of One Child Policy. To maintain the law, strict measures are enforced by the government to control the birth of two or more babies. When couples can have only one child, they prefer boys. This preference has led to female foetus abortion and female infanticide.

Chinese people prefer boy-child because of traditional notions that son will look after you in your dotage; after marriage – like the daughters – son will not go away from you, and only son will preserve the lineage because daughters become members of another family.

In India, preference for boy-child is more or less similar to the Chinese traditional belief. But most importantly why the majority of Indians put boy-child on the pedestal is because of the religious views. According to Hindu belief, India is overwhelmingly Hindu, only the sons are sanctioned to perform after-death rites, and only he can moderate his parents to go the heaven through his religious rituals.

There is a gap of sex ratio around the world due to the inequalities between men and women. As the population increases this gap significantly widens. In Islamic countries this is very high. Eight out of the top ten countries where there is gap in male and female sex ratio are located in the Middle East. As for instance, in the United Arab Emirates, number of males per female is 2.14.

One of the methods to curb gender inequality is education and training on family planning. Young people must be involved in quality family planning services because it helps in reducing adolescent pregnancies and abortions. Pregnancy in young girls has long-term implications such as health complications and high neonatal mortality rates. Young women are also prone to have preterm or low birth-weight babies.

According to United Nations approximation, 262 million women of reproductive age were using sterilization for family planning. Of these, 225 million (34 percent) relied on female sterilization and 37 million (5.6 percent) on vasectomy. WHO report reveals that only 11.3 percent of women of reproductive age around the world depend upon their partner for birth control and birth spacing.

Other Articles in Family and Parenting

Role of Men in Family Planning

Seven Essential Rules to a Happy Family Life

How to Help Your Child Handle Friendship Breakup

Importance of Family Structure