Turning pink in attempt to abort son preference

New Delhi, January 29

The pink-coloured Economic Survey document today recommended that India must confront the societal metapreference for a son, observing that the adverse sex ratio of females to males has led to 63 million “missing” women.

The colour of this year’s survey cover was chosen as a symbol of support for the growing movement to end violence against women, which spans continents.

Laying special emphasis on gender development, the survey cautioned that on several indicators, notably employment, use of reversible contraception and son preference, India has some distance to traverse despite the country’s economic progress. The survey states that just as India has committed to moving up the ranks in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ indicators, a similar commitment should be endeavoured on the gender front.

The percentage of working women has declined over time from 36 per cent being employed in 2005-06 to 24 per cent of women employed in 2015-16, pointed out the survey.

It acknowledges that the government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and ‘Sukanya Samridhi Yojana’ schemes, and mandatory maternity leave rules are all steps in the right direction, pointing out that measures such as increasing maternity leave will offer support to women in the workforce.

Given these observations, the states and all stakeholders have an important role to play in increasing opportunities available for women in education and employment, it said.

As per the survey, nearly 47 per cent of women do not use any contraception. The survey highlighted another phenomenon of son metapreference, which involves parents adopting fertility “stopping rules” having children until the desired number of sons are born. — PTI