Final technical progress report / Revisiting the devaluation of daughters in Bangladesh : continuity or change?

Abstract

The phenomenon of ‘missing women’ has been described as one of the less noticed human catastrophes in the world today. However, while absolute numbers of ‘missing women’ have continued to increase with the increase in population size, there has been a decline in the percentages of women missing, suggesting a reduction in female disadvantage relative to male. Overall sex ratios (males per 100 females) have fallen in most regions but more substantially in some than others. Progress in the South Asian region has also been uneven, with Bangladesh showing relatively greater improvement in sex ratios compared to India and Pakistan. The aim of the proposed research is to use a micro-level and in-depth approach to uncover what the combination of factors might have been that has caused a relatively greater improvement in the sex ratios in Bangladesh compared to her South Asian neighbours, despite far greater poverty.