Is a girl child ever preferred -An Alipur study Sonali Walia1, Atreyo Mondal2, Mondal P.R.3 1Ms. Sonali Walia, ICSSR Senior Research Fellow of Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, drsonaliwalia@gmail.com 2Ms. Atreyo Mondal, UGC Senior Research Fellow of Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, atreyo2015@gmail.com 3Dr. P.R. Mondal, Associate Professor of Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, prmondal1@rediffmail.com Online published on 2 March, 2021. Abstract Gender inequality is part and parcel of our society. Woman who is a progenitor of man is not welcome in the society. There is preference for the male child as well as female child with male child getting over whelming preference. There are very few parents who prefer a female child as compared to male child. If we ponder on the reasons, it will help us to probe into the reasons for preferring a girl child. The present paper aims to understand and ponder for reasons for preference for a female child. What are the factors which create reasons, so as to prefer a girl child? A Cross - sectional data from 900 women (18 - 49 years) were collected from Alipur district, Delhi in 2019. The data were collected through interview schedule, which covered data on various demographic factors and preference for the female child. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Sometimes a female child is also preferred. The reasons could be, if a family already has a male child (60.6%), so in order to complete the family or to enjoy the feeling of having both male and female child. 16.1% women feel that daughters are essential to complete their life. Others feel that girls are more responsible (11.8%) and would take better care of their parents in old age. Some people feel that girls are a form of goddess Lakshmi or Durga and so welcome them to bring fortune to their family (11.8%). Whereas (40.5%) of women welcome a girl child for no specific reason, just because she is another child in the family. Top Keywords Gender, Fertility, Demographic, Anthropologist, infanticide. Top |