A shocking study has revealed that in India gender discrimination begins as early as when conceived. According to the study women pregnant with male babies get better prenatal care.
The study was done by Leah Lakdawala of Michigan State University and Prashant Bharadwaj of the University of California, San Diego. Even though in India, it is illegal for a doctor to reveal the sex of an unborn baby or for a woman to abort a child based on the gender of the foetus, both practises are common.
The study, which collected data of more than 30,000 Indians, found that women pregnant with boys are more likely to go to prenatal appointments, take iron supplements, deliver the baby in a health-care facility. This is the first study which highlights sex discrimination in prenatal care.
