Gender Imbalances and Socio Economic Development in Haryana: 2011

The Indian population continued to suffer from the deficiency of females. Sex composition is an index of the socio-economic conditions of an area. It has a profound effect on the demographic structure of a region. It is an important tool for regional analysis. The improvement in sex ratio in 2001–2011 gives some confidence towards better social status to women in the country but a sharp decline in child sex ratio increasing discrimination with females child is a grove concern. Haryana has recorded lowest overall and child sex ratio in the country; however it shows 16 point increase in overall and 11 point increase in child sex ratio during the decade. None of the districts in the state has a sex ratio higher than the national average (940 females per thousand males). But the female deficit is more in urban areas as compared to the rural areas. Though Haryana ranks very high in India in terms of its levels of economic development, the status of women continues to be very low in the state. Haryana has a patriarchal system which discriminates against women in several ways. Female foeticide is just one among them. There is a strong preference for a male child. It requires stringent action from the state authorities and mass movement to change the mindset and the unequal order of the patriarchal society. Present paper is an attempt to examine the following aspects (i) Temporal variations in gender composition; (ii) rural-urban differential in gender ratio; (iii) difference between overall sex ratio and child sex ratio; and (iv) spatial pattern of child sex ratio at tahsil level by using 2011 Census data which help us to understand the economic, social and cultural traits of the state.