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The two-child norm as a prerequisite for standing for local office has had a negative impact on the status of women and girl-children in Rajasthan, where the sex ratio and infant mortality rate are already low
The two-child norm in Rajasthan, a state with a strong son-preference and poor social indicators in primary health and women’s empowerment, has led to forced abortions, abandonment and neglect of the girl-child, and ill-treatment and abandonment of women who bear female children by their husbands and in-laws. So says a recent study by the Jaipur-based NGO, Social Policy Research Institute, on the effects of the policy that aims to regulate family size. ‘Two-child norm (small family norm), female foeticide and the missing girls of Rajasthan’ also notes that the strong preference for a male child in this patriarchal society leads to thousands of cases of sex-selective abortions, as women in Rajasthan are socially conditioned to accept that unless they produce one or more male children they have no social standing. The study, supported by IFES (International Foundation for Election Systems) and USAID, attempted to find out whether the two-child norm has had any influence on sex-selective abortions in Rajasthan. Research was carried out in rural areas, with a special focus on Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), in the six districts of Jaisalmer, Barmer, Pali, Chittorgarh, Ganganagar and Jhunjhunu. Awareness and availability of sex-determination techniques, though banned by law since 1994, was high in all tehsils of the districts surveyed. Seventy-two per cent of the people surveyed knew about sonography or ultrasound tests and their role in determining the sex of a foetus; as many were aware of places where they could be conducted. The study found that in a society with a strong son-preference and certain socio-cultural and economic factors, the policy had actually worsened the already skewed child sex ratio in Rajasthan. It unearthed other data as well on the prevailing adverse social and economic conditions of women in the state. For example, while 82.3% of women could decide what food is cooked in their homes, only 40.5% had a say in health issues. Almost 50% of women face spousal violence, and only 27.4% of female work participation was reported, compared with 49.31% for males. On the plus side, the study points out that the lowering of the minimum age for contesting elections, from 26 to 21 years, has had an immediate effect on the number of young men and women within the reproductive age-group aspiring to political participation. Rajasthan introduced the two-child norm in 1992, to regulate family size and promote the ‘small family’ model. The policy bars people with more than two children from standing for elections or holding any position in PRIs and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The government initiated the plan based on the idea that elected representatives should ‘lead by example’ -- that panchayat representatives should be role models and set an example for the rest of the population. Rajasthan’s example was soon followed by other states such as Haryana (1993), Madhya Pradesh (2000), Orissa (1993), Andhra Pradesh (1993), Maharashtra (2003) and, recently, Gujarat. Source: www.oneworld.net, September 25, 2007
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