“We want change for our daughters”: Personal discourse about the daughter deficit in Andhra Pradesh

What is it about?

Discourse about the skewed child sex ratio in India has given insufficient attention to individual mother’s stories about raising daughters. The narratives women tell one another can have long-term impact, as new models of the family are slowly produced by a discursive emphasis on daughter’s strengths. This micro-regional pilot study based on 25 interviews with mothers in Andhra Pradesh was undertaken to learn what women felt were the most crucial actions to erode son preference. Families were focused on daughters as bearers of family honor and fearful that daughters will be endangered in public spaces and thus ruin the family name. According to the mothers, the two most important steps to address the daughter deficit are aiding women’s economic independence and modifying men’s firm ideas about women’s capabilities and value.

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Why is it important?

How do we erode son preference? How do we refrain from stereotyping low-income parents and attend to their precise attitudes when raising sons and daughters?