Assessment of attitude of the women of the reproductive age group toward girl child in an urban slum in Punjab

Introduction: Girl child continues to be insecure and vulnerable in South-East Asia particularly in India despite various legal measures. Only law cannot be a solution, identifying the social factors and working on their improvements are also essential. Aims and Objectives: (1) To assess the present child sex ratio (0-6 child sex ratio [CSR]) in defined study population. (2) To assess the attitude of the women of the reproductive age group toward the girl child and relate it to the status of sex ratio. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in a sub locality of 283 households out of which 147 households having children in age group of 0-6 years were selected and mothers of children were interviewed with a prestructured pretested questionnaire containing a rating scale of 40 items in vernacular language to determine the attitude of the mother toward girl child. Results: Total no. of children in the age group of 0-6 years were found to be 241, with CSR of 709 but had a sharp contrast in children