Karen Howlett
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/study-finds-gender-inbalance-in-children-born-to-indo-canadian-women/article34794700/ Fewer girls than boys are born to Indian women who immigrate to Canada, a skewed pattern driven by families whose mother tongue is Punjabi, according to a new study.
One
of the most surprising findings of the study, to be published Monday in
the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada, is that the preference
for boys does not diminish, regardless of how long women from India
have lived in Canada.
“It’s counterintuitive,” said Marcelo
Urquia, a research scientist at the University of Manitoba’s Centre for
Health Policy and lead author of the study. “We know that the longer
immigrants are in Canada, the more likely they are to align to the host
country.”
But
for many Indian immigrants who express a strong desire for sons, the
study found, the practice of sex selection remains entrenched. Women who
already have two female children are most at risk for abortions in the
second trimester, when parents can learn the sex of the fetus. The study
builds on previous research led by Dr. Urquia that found a deficit in
Canada of more than 4,400 girls over two decades.
The
latest study shows that women born in India who already have two
daughters gave birth to 192 baby boys in Ontario for every 100 girls.
The sex ratios are so distorted, they cannot be explained by natural
causes, Dr. Urquia said. Across the globe, by comparison, the odds of
having a boy over a girl are slightly higher: 107 boys for every 100
girls.
The preference for boys among
many Indian immigrants reveals underlying gender inequities and will not
change without intervention, Dr. Urquia said.
Amanpreet
Brar, a third-year medical student at the University of Toronto who
worked on the study, said gender-selection abortion was talked about
openly in India’s Punjab province, where she grew up, but she was
surprised to learn that it also happens in Canada.
Ms.
Brar, who immigrated to Canada with her family when she was 14,
remembers the traditional celebration called a Lohri in India for
celebrating the birth of a boy.
“It was rare to hear about a girl’s birth being celebrated,” she said.
But
some steps have been taken in Canada to end gender-based customs and
celebrate the birth of girls. In Brampton, Ont., where 40 per cent of
the population is South Asian, one hospital has started handing out
Ladoos, a sugary Indian sweet, when a baby girl is born, Ms. Brar said.
Traditionally in India, Ladoos were just for moms who delivered boys.
The
study analyzed 46,834 birth records for Indian-born mothers who
delivered up to three live births in Ontario hospitals between April,
1993, and March, 2014, and who immigrated to Canada between 1985 and
2012. Mothers who gave birth to twins or triplets were excluded. The
study also looked at the mother’s birth place, her mother tongue and how
long she had been in Canada.
Among all
the mothers having their third child, nearly twice as many males were
born compared with females if the previous two children were girls. The
ratio was even higher among women whose mother tongue was Punjabi: 240
boys to 100 girls. The ratio of males to females did not differ
according to when women arrived in Canada.
In
India, the ratio of male to female newborns varies considerably, with
several northern states consistently showing numbers that favour boys,
the study says. The practice of sex selection is not widespread across
India but it is prevalent, said Kripa Sekhar, executive director of the
South Asian Women’s Centre in Toronto.
“Many members of the community
welcome a girl child,” she said. “It’s a small minority of the community
in Canada that still practises this.”
A
woman has a fundamental right in Canada to decide whether to have an
abortion, and should not come under pressure from a spouse or other
family members to deliver a male child, Ms. Sekhar said.
“This is an issue of choice that is taken away from a woman,” she said. “In many ways it is very abusive.”
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