Masochist masculinity
OVER two decades ago, in an Economic and Political Weekly article, the economic historian Dharma Kumar wrote that as numbers of women decrease, there would be a growing demand for them, thereby raising their status in society. Many lauded Kumar, for going against the grain. But she was wrong. A strong preference for sons persists in this country, aided by technology that increasingly allows parents to realise their desires. Amniocentesis and ultrasound can easily identify the sex of a fetus, and the law has had scarce impact on the numerous sex-selective abortion centres in the country.
India's sex ratio is terribly skewed: 933 women for every thousand. In most parts of the world it's women who actually outnumber men: in the UK, US, several countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia and even sub-Saharan Africa. Many liberal social scientists do believe that India would reverse its terrible sex ratio with economic growth.Like a lot of other assumptions that prop up optimistic theories of economic growth, this one is also terribly simplistic