Development of rural girl children -- a bias

In Dharwad taluk, Dharwad District, Karnataka, India, researchers followed the development and growth of 274 infants from birth to 5 years. The proportion of well-nourished girls decreased as the age increased for both sexes. The proportion of well-nourished girls was lower than boys up to age 15 months. Between 15 months and 42 months, it was higher. In all degrees of malnutrition, the proportion of females was higher than the males. In terms of motor and mental indices, at 27 months, no girl was well-nourished. Between birth to 8 months, the motor development indices of the well-nourished girls was slightly higher than that of boys. The motor indices were equal for both sexes between 9 and 11 months. At 12, 18, and 24 months, well-nourished girls had higher motor indices with significant difference at 24 months (p 0.001). The disparity in motor indices was greater for malnourished girls than malnourished boys, which was significant between 9 and 12 months (p 0.01-0.05). In other words, the motor capacity of malnourished infant girls was much better than their male counterparts. Between birth and 8 months, mental development indices (MDIs) of the well-nourished girls were higher than boys with the difference being significant at 2 months (p 0.05). Thereafter, they were higher for boys than girls with the differences being significant at 24 and 30 months (p 0.01). Among malnourished children, girls had higher MDIs than boys with significant differences at 9 and 21 months (p 0.01). MDIs decreased as age increased. They show that, in absence of parental encouragement, girls did better in mental development than boys despite being malnourished. These findings suggest that girls are neglected at birth in terms of nutritional status and performance in mental and motor tasks. Thus, parents need to be educated to avoid depriving girls of nutrition and mental and motor stimulation.