Sex Bias in the Family Allocation of Food and Health Care in Rural Bangladesh

Conclusive evidence was provided in an earlier study by the authors of higher female than male mortality from shortly after birth through the childbearing ages in a rural area of Bangladesh.' Male mortality exceeded female mortality in the neonatal period, but this differential was reversed in the postneonatal period. Higher female than male mortality continued through childhood into adolescence and extended through the reproductive ages. The most marked differences were observed in the 1-4-year age group, where female mortality exceeded male mortality by as much as 50 percent. The higher male mortality rate during the neonatal period is consistent with evidence from many societies that the biological risk of death is higher among male children than among female children.2 The…