Sex-ratio and Life expectancy

Sex-ratio and Life expectancy
Sex-ratio (number of female per 1,000 male) is an important indicator of women’s status in the society. The census figures show that while the female population has increased from 117 million in 1901 to 329 millions in 1981 and 495 million in 2001, the number of females per thousand males is steadily declining. In 1901, there were 972 females per 1,000 males, while by 1971, the ratio had come down to 930 females per 1,000 males. In 1981 there has been only a nominal increase in the female sex-ratio with 934 females to 1,000 males. It has further declined to 927 in 1991. And it has gone slightly up in 2001 to 933.
Similarly, though life expectancy has increased for both the sexes, the gap between the two is widening. In 1921 the expectation of life for both males and females was 26 years. By 1961-71, the male life expectancy increased to 47.1 years, while that of females to 45.6 years only. Life expectancy has increased over the decade from 44.7 years in 1971 to 54.7 in 1980 for women.
It was estimated to be slightly higher in 1980 for women than men: 54.7 and 54.1 years at birth respectively. During 1995-2000 the life expectancy for women and men were 64.9 and 61.9 respectively.
However, age specific death rates indicate higher mortality for female children and women for every five year period till 35 years of age. The low female sex-ratio and the life expectancy of the female are partly due to differential sex-ratio of newly born infants and partly due to high female mortality rate. Female mortality is to a great extent discuss these aspects briefly. due to neglect during early childhood, death during childbirth and infant mortality.