Abstract

The study hypothesis that improvements in female literacy rate and labour participation rate helps to bring changes in the overall attitude of the society toward women and girl child and there by helps to reduce female infant mortality and sex selective abortions. The study analyses female literacy rate and labour participation rate of various states and the corresponding Child Sex ratio. The study found that improvements in the female literacy rate had not adequately reflected in the female labour participation rate. Even those states having a commendable improvement in both the parameters failed to reflect an adequate improvement in the CSR. The study concludes that mere improvements in female literacy rate and labour participation rate, wouldn’t improve the status of women unless it is supplemented by targeted social and economic empowerment. Analysing CSR from a multidimensional perspective, this paper argues how and why gender sensitisation and women empowerment should be brought into the policy circle to tackle this menace via transforming the life of the women and thus the society.