TY - JOUR
T1 - Sex-selective abortions and infant mortality in India: the role of parents’ stated son preference
AU - Robitaille, Marie-Claire
AU - Chatterjee, Ishita
N1 - Note: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Development Studies on 13 October 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00220388.2016.1241389.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - In India, millions of female foetuses have been aborted since the 1980s alongside an abnormally high infant girl mortality rate; this has generated a vast literature exploring the root causes of son preference. The literature is sparse, however, on how the decisions to abort or neglect girls are made. This paper examines mothers’ and fathers’ respective roles behind those decisions. Using NFHS-3 data, we show that sex- selective abortions are most commonly used if both spouses or if only the fathers prefer sons, while sex-selective neglect is used if only the mothers prefer sons.
AB - In India, millions of female foetuses have been aborted since the 1980s alongside an abnormally high infant girl mortality rate; this has generated a vast literature exploring the root causes of son preference. The literature is sparse, however, on how the decisions to abort or neglect girls are made. This paper examines mothers’ and fathers’ respective roles behind those decisions. Using NFHS-3 data, we show that sex- selective abortions are most commonly used if both spouses or if only the fathers prefer sons, while sex-selective neglect is used if only the mothers prefer sons.
KW - India, infant mortality, sex-selective abortions, son preference.
KW - India, infant mortality, sex-selective abortions, son preference.
U2 - 10.1080/00220388.2016.1241389
DO - 10.1080/00220388.2016.1241389
M3 - Article
SN - 1743-9140
VL - 54
SP - 47
EP - 56
JO - Journal of Development Studies
JF - Journal of Development Studies
IS - 1
ER -