The problem of ‘missing women’ and measuring gender progress

Demographic indicators like sex ratio play a crucial role in framing policies with respect to gender equity, maternal and child health, education, social welfare, etc. For instance, child sex ratio (CSR) is one of the clearest indicators of gender discrimination, as it is directly related to the persistence of patriarchal norms like son preference. In this context, the absence of data on the sex ratio of the total population and the child sex ratio (CSR) at birth in the recently published National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) raises serious concerns. What is sex ratio, and what are the social and demographic consequences of skewed sex ratio? What did Amartya Sen hint at by using the phrase ‘missing women’?Sex ratio, a key indicator of gender progress Sex ratio is a demographic metric that