Preventing More 'Missing Girls': A Review of Policies to Tackle Son Preference

doi:10.1093/wbro/lkz002

Publication:
Preventing More 'Missing Girls': A Review of Policies to Tackle Son Preference

dc.contributor.author	Kumar, Sneha
dc.contributor.author	Sinha, Nistha
dc.date.accessioned	2021-08-10T15:20:15Z
dc.date.available	2021-08-10T15:20:15Z
dc.date.issued	2020-02
dc.description.abstract	In parts of Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Balkans, son preference is strong enough to trigger significant levels of sex selection, resulting in the excess mortality of girls and skewing child sex ratios in favor of boys. Every year, an estimated 1.8 million girls go “missing” because of the widespread use of sex selective practices in these regions. The pervasive use of such practices is reflective of the striking inequities girls face immediately, and it also has possible negative implications for efforts to improve women's status in the long term. Recognizing this as a public policy concern, governments have employed direct measures such as banning the use of prenatal sex selection technology, and providing financial incentives to families that have girls. This study reviews cross-country experiences to take stock of the direct interventions used and finds no conclusive evidence that they are effective in reducing the higher mortality risk for girls. In fact, bans on the use of sex selection technology may inadvertently worsen the status of the very individuals they intend to protect, and financial incentives to families with girls offer only short-term benefits at most. Instead, what seems to work are policies that indirectly raise the value of daughters. The study also underscores the paucity of causal studies in this literature.	en
dc.identifier.citation	World Bank Research Observer
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/36094
dc.identifier.issn	1564-6971
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/36094
dc.publisher	Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseries	World Bank Research Observer
dc.rights	CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
dc.subject	SEX RATIOS
dc.subject	SEX SELECTION
dc.subject	GENDER DISCRIMINATION
dc.subject	MISSING GIRLS
dc.subject	SON PREFERENCE
dc.subject	FINANCIAL INCENTIVE
dc.subject	DIRECT INTERVENTION
dc.subject	MORTALITY RISK
dc.title	Preventing More 'Missing Girls'	en
dc.title.subtitle	A Review of Policies to Tackle Son Preference	en
dc.type	Journal Article	en
dc.type	Article de journal	fr
dc.type	Artículo de revista	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2021-08-10
okr.date.doiregistration	2025-05-06T11:32:57.334102Z
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Journal Article
okr.identifier.doi	10.1093/wbro/lkz002
okr.journal.nbpages	87-121
okr.language.supported	en
okr.peerreview	Academic Peer Review
okr.region.administrative	Europe and Central Asia
okr.region.geographical	Asia
okr.region.geographical	Eastern Europe
okr.topic	Gender::Gender and Health
okr.topic	Gender::Gender and Social Policy
okr.topic	Health, Nutrition and Population::Early Child and Children's Health
okr.topic	Health, Nutrition and Population::Reproductive Health
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Inequality
okr.volume	35(1)
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