Gender differences in child health among small families in India

The present study attempts to enquire the selective gender differentials in health seeking behaviour and outcome among the children in small families using NFHS III data. The analysis has covered the states which have attained replacement level fertility. The study hypothesizes three facts: first, there exist gender preferences towards son in small families as an outcome of desired sex; second, assuming this reference get reflected in differential health treatment of boys and girls, families possessing same sex children are relatively worse than those having both the sexes. Finally, even among the same sex siblings, boy-boy combination has lower discrimination in higher parity than girl-girl. Findings reveal that boys who are born into a household with no other boys and an older sister appear to be most ‘wanted.’ They have significantly higher odds in favor of immunization and lesser chance of being underweight than a single girl child. Girls are seemed to be most discriminated when they are the younger ones. It is higher when they have an older sister than an older brother. In terms of same sex composition of siblings, younger girls are significantly more discriminated when they have a same sex sibling than the younger boys.

Keywords: Selective, Replacement Level, Parity, Discrimination