A Study of Children of 0-6 Years in Urban Icds Project Area

This study underscores the fact that the integrated child development services had succeeded over the years in reducing the severe forms of malnutrition like marasmus and kwashiorkor, but diarrhea and ARI were still common and still the girl child is still being neglected. The Indian constitution grants women equal rights with men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist, with women's lives shaped by customs that are centuries old. A daughter is viewed as a liability, and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and subordinate to men. Sons are idolized and celebrated. In childhood a female is a subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when the husband is dead, to her sons, a woman is never independent. A primary way that parents discriminate against their girl children is through neglect during illness. when sick, little girls are not taken to the doctor as frequently as are their brothers. This preferential treatment would continue unless a dramatic change occurs in our present social set up.