Background: Gender preference, especially male, is a matter of serious concern in our country. It happens due to misuse of recent advancement in medical technology for prenatal sex determination. Therefore, awareness of these issues needs to be evaluated.
Objectives: The present study is conducted to assess the knowledge regarding issues of sex determination and also to identify the real picture of gender preference among married women (reproductive age group) residing in urban slums.
Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study using simple random sampling for the selection of slum and 230 urban slum dwellers married women in reproductive age group was interviewed.
Results: It was found that 79% of women were aware of prenatal sex determination. Among them, 92.30% of women knew about ultrasonography technique for determining sex of the child. About 92.80% of women knew about criminal aspects of prenatal sex determination, but only 76.40% knew about the punishment associated with sex determination. The present study shows that there is no particular gender preference among the married women. About 70.80% have either sex preference in their next pregnancy, but 17.80% of women have preference for male child and 11.30% of women prefer female child. The present study also shows more male child preference among women having all female children in their previous births.
Conclusion: There is a need for stronger implementation of existing legal measures such as Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and also creating awareness of them is felt. Information Education and Communication (IEC) pertaining to these issues must be promoted.
Key words: Gender Preference; Prenatal Sex Determination; Urban Slums
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