Are Skewed Sex Ratios Impeding Female Empowerment in India? : A Study Looking at Violence and Violations in Indian Households

Abstract: This thesis studies the relationship between a skewed sex ratio and female empowerment in India. The study uses cross-sectional survey data from 2015-16, defining empowerment with an index that compiles questions directed toward women regarding if they have been subjected to violence and violations by their husbands or partners. We investigate if there is a negative relationship between sex ratio and the empowerment index by examining previous studies as well as conducting a multivariable regression analysis. The results show a statistically significant negative relationship at the 5% significance level when controlling for son preference, wealth index, education, habit of reading the news, and identification as Hindu and Muslim respectively. Furthermore, we find that a negative correlation persists when separately performing the regression for the wealth index levels “middle” and “richer”. Although statistically significant, the coefficients are relatively small and the economic significance of the results is hence debatable.