Gender, Differential Mortality and Development: The Experience of Kerala.

It is now widely established that the major reason for India's declining sex ratio is the higher incidence of mortality of female children resulting from various kinds of discriminatory treatment. However, one state in India, Kerala, has been an exception in this regard and its sex ratio has been consistently favorable to women. The major aim of this paper is to understand the reasons for this favorable outcome. Complementary aspects of cultural and economic relationships that have together influenced women's status in Kerala are identified, and their implications for the social and demographic profile of the region brought out. Copyright 1989 by Oxford University Press.