Districts with low sex ratio post low literacy

CHENNAI: Despite improvement in the overall literacy rate and child sex ratio in Tamil Nadu, Census 2011 shows that in at least five districts female literacy rates as well as child sex ratios continue to be low. Experts say that the sex ratio declines primarily through lack of attention toward female health, killing girl babies after they are born, and terminating pregnancies if the baby is a girl.Low literacy levels, especially among women, could indicate the status of women in that region, besides contributing to a lack of awareness of how important girl children are for demographic balance, they say.
In Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri, Perambalur and Namakkal, child sex ratios are low and there is a vast difference between male and female literacy rates. Bottom of the list is Ariyalur which has the lowest child sex ratio of 892 and a female literacy rate of 62.2 - almost 20 percentage points less than the male literacy rate of 82.1 and below the national average of 65.5.
Activists and experts working on women's rights issues, however, warn that a lot more needs to be done than educating women. Literacy may not be the only factor contributing to low child sex ratios, they contend. "In districts of South Delhi and other places where the literacy rate is quite high, the child sex ratio is terribly low," says Andal Damodaran, vice president of Indian Council of Child Welfare, Tamil Nadu.
She adds that unless the status of women was improved, the practise of dowry was condemned and social attitudes towards the girl child improved child sex ratio would continue to be low. "Education has an important role to play and unless more and more women go out and work and the girl child is viewed more favorably, this trend is not likely to change," he says.
Stressing on the importance of dowry as a social phenomenon, Andal Damodaran says that who pays the dowry and bears the costs of marriage is a key determinant of the status of women. For instance, in Cuddalore, where the child sex ratio has dipped by 62 points in the last 10 years and now stands at 895, the female literacy rate is at 71.2%. Less than 60 years ago, parents of girl children would be paid money through bride price. "This practise has completely disappeared. Unless the culture of shared wedding expenses is brought about in India, dowry will exist and child sex ratios will go down," she says.
R Leelavathi, state secretary of Penn Urimai Iyakkam says that an educated woman is more responsible than an uneducated one and creating more awareness about education and importance of the girl child would help combat low child sex ratios in the districts.
Feminist and Activist, V Geetha says that illiteracy maybe one of the reasons for low sex ratio, but bare literacy will not be enough. For meaningful change, girls should be given higher education. "A count of the number of girls who have completed class XII in a district would be a much more reliable data," she says.