Gender, differential mortality and development: the experience of Kerala

This study examines aspects of sex differentials in mortality in India. "The general question of sex bias and excess female mortality is first discussed.... Subsequently the reasons for the regional contrast in sex ratios are explored.... We then focus on the interesting exception to the Indian trend and attempt an explanation for the unusual sexual profile that Kerala displays.... The paper ends...with an attempt to draw some tentative conclusions from the Kerala experience with an eye towards more general issues concerning women and the development process."