WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

DECREASES IN MALE AND FEMALE MORTALITY AND MISSING WOMEN …
on the basis of changes in the population sex ratio suffer from inaccuracies.
There is a need here to develop more refined methods.
Excess female mortality in childhood is a reflection of wider economic
and social realities that assign a higher value to boys than to
girls. Part of this reality is that women’s economic contributions are
restricted to domestic domain and that daughters are considered to be
expensive due to the dowry system. Conversely, sons are valued for the
potential wealth they bring to their parents and the extended family.
From this it follows that the obvious long-term policies to be pursued
by the Government of Bangladesh is to press ahead with reforms that
will facilitate greater educational, employment and financial opportunities
to women and better access to high-quality health services. In
accordance with this policy, the Government of Bangladesh in partnerships
with national and international NGOs is in the process of implementing
various women development programmes, for example,
stipends to girl students for primary and secondary schooling, microcredit
schemes aimed at women for social and economic empowerment
and economic policies leading to more employment for women
in the formal sector. Moreover, the Government of Bangladesh is
committed to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and
children. Commitments are not enough, however. Resources have to
be mobilized and allocated to these programmes and monitoring has to
be in place to determine whether these programmes succeeded in
attaining their objectives. In addition, sanctions have to be taken
against those who oppress women and children, acid throwers, women
and child traffickers and family members who demand unreasonable
dowries.
This study indicates that high-quality free primary health care result
in more egalitarian sex mortality ratios in childhood in Bangladesh.
Such high-quality services were available in the MCH-FP area, but less
so in the comparison area. This led to disappearance of the sex differential
in mortality in the MCH-FP area and to continuation of existence
of the sex differential in mortality in the comparison area, but at
a much lower level than in the past. The government policy shift towards
greater cost recovery and reliance on the private sector is of
concern because poor families may be less able and willing to spend
money on daughters than on sons. Concomitant improvements in the
social, economic and political status of women continue, therefore,
also to be needed to eliminate inequalities.
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