WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

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S. AGRAWAL - S. UNISA
of women who ideally did not want any daughters experienced abortion
than those who reported one or more daughters as an ideal number.
However, more women who reported one as the ideal number of
sons were found to experience relatively higher rates of abortion than
those who reported two or more sons. Thus, the findings clearly indicate
that higher proportions of women undergoing abortions ideally
desire a small size family with no female children. This may be the
result of a strategy to retain a small family size with the desired combination
of sex.
Figure 2 Percentage of women having aborted according to the ideal number
of children and surviving boys
% abortion
50
40
30
20
10
0
no surviving male child
at least one surviving male child
up to 2 3 and more
Ideal number of children
It is evident that the experience of abortion significantly varies
with the presence of a male child among both the types of women
(preferring small as well as large family size). A higher proportion of
women, without a male child and who reported a small size family ideal
were found to experience abortion (35 percent) against women having
one or more male children (27 percent). A rather high proportion of
women not having male child and who reported a large size family
ideal was also found to undergo abortion (39 percent), a proportion
higher than women having one or more male children (17 percent).
This indicates that the absence of a son, as well as a desire for a small
family size, is a significant factor for abortion among women in rural
Haryana.