14 major Indian states
Female/male ratios decrease up the left side. Total Fertility Rates increase across the top. Data from Dreze(a) and Sen.
The family class and caste explanation of What is the cause fatal daughter syndrome in India? leads to our next question. Does fatal daughter syndrome effect well-being? Recall that both fatal daughter syndrome and well-being are aggregate measures of outcomes of human behavior
The clearest data available showing that fatal daughter syndrome effects well-being is in the following chart which plots the female/males ratios in each Indian state against the total fertility rate of each other state. Each state is represented as a point on the chart. In this chart low female/male ratios have been used as the closest surrogate measures for high fatal daughter syndrome and low total fertility rates has been applied as the best surrogate measures for high well-being. As the female/male ratios decline going up the left side of the chart, the total fertility rates increase from left to right. The increases in total fertility rates caused by the decline in the female/male ratios are represented as an upward line across the chart.
As Female/Male Ratios decrease, Total Fertility Rates increase
14 major Indian states
Female/male ratios decrease
up the left side. Total Fertility Rates increase across the top. Data from
Dreze(a)
and Sen.
The apparent isolation of Kerala in the lower left corner emphasizes the difference of Kerala from all the rest of India on both of these important measures. The other states of India are scattered upward with increasing degrees of more fatal daughter syndrome and higher fertility rates. The relationship of the measures in this data display strongly asserts that fatal daughter syndrome causes lower well-being in India.
Aside from reducing their numbers, What is the effect of the discrimination known by the girl child living in a society which fosters and allows fatal daughter syndrome? Females bring to the performance of their motherhood roles superior social skills. That is, more skill in the use of language (which appears as a genetic difference, McGuffin) and more empathy (perhaps learned in the practice of mothering roles). These are skills managing children and the management of others in the provision of the needs for children and other dependent persons. We may call this management by mothers, something more than motherhood, mother management. Mother management characterizes the special contribution of women to the management of the efforts of others in the well-being creation processes.
Indian females which have survived the discrimination of fatal daughter syndrome were forced to emphasize their self interested survival skills ahead of their mother management skills. The survival of a ten year old might be at the expense of the survival of her 4 year old sister. Such females are less able to manage effectively in the empathetic and sympathetic processes creating well-being for their families and their communities. These survivors are less effective than those who have not suffered family and community discrimination. That is, we may say that their mother management skills have been impaired.