Sharada Srinivasan, born in Bangalore, India, in 1970. Ph.D. at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair in Gender, Justice and Development College of Social and Applied Human Sciences University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1 Canada.
Fellow (1 February 2014 – 30 June 2014)
DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS AND GENDER IN ASIA: ‘SCARCE WOMEN’ AND ‘SURPLUS MEN’
Research Question
How are families and individuals affected by and coping with changes resulting from daughter deficit?
Project Description
Several east and south Asian countries including China, India and Vietnam are witnessing a continuing decline in the proportion of girls to boys due to sex selection. The resulting daughter deficit is leading to growing concerns about how the ‘scarce women’ and ‘surplus men’ will affect the future of societies in Asia and beyond. The research examines how daughter deficit affect marriage, gender relations, women’s status, marriage, kinship arrangements and sexual behaviour, and household strategies to adapt to the demands of (female) labour for domestic chores, care and reproduction in the north Indian state of Punjab which has a long history of daughter deficit. It also examines if and how son preference may be weakening and what it means for daughters and gender equality.
Selected Publications
1) Srinivasan, Sharada (2012) Daughter Deficit: Sex Selection in Tamil Nadu. New Delhi: Women Unlimited.
2) Srinivasan, Sharada and Arjun S.Bedi (2011) ‘Ensuring Daughter Survival in Tamil Nadu, India’, Oxford Development Studies, 39(3): 253-283. Published as a chapter in Li, Shuzhuo, Shang Zijuan and Yang Bo (eds.) (2012) Gender and sustainable social development, pp.298-333. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press (China). (in Chinese)
3) Srinivasan, Sharada and Arjun S.Bedi (2007) ‘Domestic Violence and Dowry: Evidence from a South Indian Village’, World Development, 35 (5): 857-880.