Discrimination sexuelle et infanticide en Inde du Sud

Abstract

In India, sex ratios of the population have been diminishing regularly since 1901. Infanticide of girls and female foetus’ selective abortion are two of the practices which can explain these results. In the patriarchal Indian family, girls are not wanted because they are considered to be a socio-economic burden for their parents throughout their life. For this article, we conducted a spatial study at different levels in South India so as to map the abnormalities of the juvenile sex ratios; they show significant variations in discriminatory behaviours, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The objective of this article is to provide the first elements of a response as to why gender discrimination exists in certain regions of South India, notably by introducing the concept of diffusion. Despite the lack of direct statistics on these phenomena, we observe, thanks to fieldwork studies, that girls infanticide is giving way to a generalization and diffusion of practices of embryos’ selection, in a nexus of deep discrimination settling and modernity access.

Keywords

• diffusion
• infanticide
• juvenile sex ratio
• sex selective abortion
• sexual discrimination
• South India