Urban Kerala less hospitable to females?

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 1. Is the urban environment in Kerala becoming a little less hospitable to the female of species compared to the rural areas?

Kerala has the highest sex ratio in the country -- 1,058 females for every 1,000 males. In rural areas, there are 1,059 females per 1,000 males against 1,058 in the urban areas, according to the provisional population totals (Rural Urban Distribution) of the 2001 census released here on Tuesday.

The difference becomes more pronounced when the sex ratio of the children aged between 0 and 6 is taken. There were only 958 female children of this age group for every 1,000 male children in the urban areas, against 964 in the rural areas.

The State average is 963. This, however, does not mean that the overall sex ratio for all age groups would drop in the coming years. Generally women outlive men and so the general sex ratio would be higher than the sex ratio for the 0 to 6 age group.

The data shows that the sex ratio of the child population is the lowest in Ernakulam district (948), particularly in the rural areas of Aluva and Kochi taluks. This could mean that a higher number of female foeticides are taking place in these areas, if other reasons are absent.

Districtwise analysis of sex ratio shows that it is the highest in Pathanamthitta district (1,094) and the lowest in Idukki district (993). In Idukki district, however, the sex ratio in the urban areas (1,014) is higher than the sex ratio in rural areas (991). This is contrary to the trend elsewhere in the State.

The sex ratio of child population is the highest in Kasaragod district (984). In this district, the urban sex ratio of 0-6 population (1,004) is much higher than that of the rural areas.

Talukwise analysis of the sex ratio shows that Chavakkad taluk of Thrissur district has highest sex ratio (1,154). The sex ratio of rural population here (1,156) is also the highest in the State. The lowest in the case of total population and rural population is the Devikulam taluk with a sex ratio of 980. There is no urban areas in this taluk and 13 other taluks in the State. In case of the remaining 49 taluks, the sex ratio is observed to be the highest in the urban areas of Chavakkad taluk and the lowest in Udumbanchola taluk (929) of Idukki district. (The high sex ratio in Chavakkad taluk could be a result of many males from this region emigrating to Gulf countries for jobs).

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Section  : Southern States
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