1. Sex Selection in India
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Procreation – A Pathway to Value in Indian Culture
Sara Bachtel
University of Georgia

2. Sex Selection in India
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India’s Preference for Sons over Daughters
The growing issue of sex selection in India is the by-product of gender paradigms
deeply entrenched in the Indian culture throughout generations. The value of a child is
constructed around ideas of who he can be for the family and society. Many of the
privileges of society such as cultural practices, marriage implications, or roles in funeral
rituals are reserved for the male. When a daughter is married, her family pays her
husband a usually high dowry. Even where the couple decides to live is usually decided
based on the location of the husband’s family. Therefore, there is a preference for sons
over daughters that pervades the Indian culture and drives Indian women to find means to
determine and control the outcome of their child’s sex even before ultrasounds were
available (Bhagat et al., 2012). Other research has found striking revelations among
physicians, who are frequently revered in Indian society. Physicians, not only are role
models for society, but are more likely to have the means to seek out sex selection as an
option (Patel et al., 2013). Not surprisingly, while males are preferred regardless of
social class, it is usually higher income individuals who the phenomenon is common
among as they have more resources available to choose the desired sex of their offspring
(Bhagat et al., 2012). This class’ expected sex of their child seemed to be largely
contingent on whether the previous had been a girl. Based on the findings, sex selection
was particularly common and could be anticipated based on the number of births and
presence of females (Patel et al., 2013).

3. Sex Selection in India
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Influence of Governmental Policies and Laws in India
Sex selective abortions became the most common in the 1970s and 1980s and
continue to be used in India today. Since then, the Indian government has sought to put
in place regulations that limit peoples’ choices to abort based on selection. One of these
was its attempt to limit amniocentesis for sex-determining reasons in 1978. Another was
The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act of
1994. This act looked to define conditions of sex selective abortions and was later
amended in 2002. However, other government policies like those instated through the
Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act allow women to abort for mental trauma or
failure of contraception, resulting in a prevailing practice regardless of the attempted
regulations (Bhagat et al., 2012).
Long-Term Consequences
Sex selection in the womb is relatively new. Only recently, has India begun to really
collide with the consequences related its population’s access to these techniques which
emerged in the 1980s. Now the men who were chosen years ago are looking for wives to
secure their place in society. However, the broadening ratios are thought to continue as
they are projected to increase 10-20% over the next twenty years. This has implications
not only for the men, but also for the market. Women usually look to marry men of
higher socioeconomic status. Consequently, when there is a shortage of women, many of
the lower-income men from lower classes in society are left without any potential brides.
In this way, the market and the family are both influenced as it is the men with most
influence in the marketplace who secure wives and have children (Hesketh, 2011).

4. Sex Selection in India
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On a societal level, lower-income single men may suffer psychological problems
linked to problem behaviors. Some sources consider the ratio of single men linked to an
increase in crime in these areas (Hesketh, 2011). A limited supply of women will impact
marriage availability, which, in turn, will impact families. Although sons are valued,
much of a man’s value is also linked to his ability to marry and pass on the family name
through a son. Therefore, both men and women’s value is largely contingent on their
ability to produce male offspring. As a result, an Indian woman’s choice to select is not
one she makes in isolation – it is likely piqued by the desires and pressures of her
husband and parents-in-law (Luthra, 1993).
Conclusion
The problem is complex. The battle may be fought in the political and economic
spheres by feminists, but all the consequences are linked to the value system of the
culture. When victory is won within these grounds, other breakthroughs for women in
the academic and workplace will follow. As Luthra points out, these choices are made in
a context. The context of India is one in which a woman is facing imperialism, racism,
and poverty (Luthra, 1993). As an individual, she is imbedded in complex systems,
which seek to define her and influence her choices. There will be consequences in all of
these spheres until changes begin through the way the culture perceives a woman – apart
from her relationship to a man.

5. Sex Selection in India
References
Bhagat, N., Laskar, A. R., & Sharma, N. (2012). Women’s perception about sex selection
in an urban slum in Delhi. Journal Of Reproductive & Infant Psychology, 30(1), 92-
104.
Hesketh, T. (2011). Selecting sex: The effect of preferring sons. Early Human
Development, 87(11), 759-761.
Luthra, R. (1993). Toward a reconceptualization of 'choice': challenges by women at the
margins. Feminist Issues, 13(1), 41-54.
Patel, A., Badhoniya, N., Mamtani, M., & Kulkarni, H. (2013). Skewed Sex Ratios in
India: 'Physician, Heal Thyself'. Demography, 50(3), 1129-1134.

6. Sex Selection in India