From the above Table it will be seen that the proportion of
females to males in the Jaina community has
been varying and that the proportion of females continuously declined from
1931 onwards upto 1961. The proportion of
females to males became lowest, ie. 924 in
1961 and it registered a rise to 940 in 1971 and to 941 in 1981. In this
connection it may be mentioned that no definite tendency is conclusively
revealed by these figures and that the alternate variation in figures at
many censuses seems to be the result of incorrect enumeration of females
among the Jainas during the census operations.
The proportion of females to males in the major religious
communities in India as per 1981 Census is given in Table No. 14.
TABLE NO. 14
Religious Community Number of
Females per
1000 males
Christians
992
Buddhists 953
Jainas
941
Hindus 933
ALL
934
Muslims 937
Sikhs 880
From the above Table it will be noticed that the proportion of
females to males among the Jainas is less
compared to the Christian and the Buddhists but it is more compared to the
Sikhs, the Muslims and the Hindus.
Further even among the Jainas there
is a wide variation in their sex composition from State to State. From the
figures of sex distribution among the Jaina
population of different States and Union Territories of India as per 1971
Census it is clear that the proportion of females to males is largely
greater than the average (940) in Pondicherry
(1026), Gujarat (1021), Rajasthan (1010), Andaman and
Nicobar Islands (1000) and Jammu and Kashmir (993) and the
proportion is much smaller than the average (940) in
Tripura (349), Arunachala Pradesh
(392), Nagaland (555) and
Dadra and Nagar
Haveli (586). This difference is mainly due to the fact that the
proportion of females among the Jainas is
generally more among the States (like Gujarat and Rajasthan) where they
are mostly concentrated and it is generally less among the States and
Union Territories ( like Tripura and
Arunachala Pradesh) where they are very
sparsely populated and are settled there temporarily for business
purposes.
There are various causes which contribute to the deficiency of
females, viz. (i) concealment of females, (ii)
excess of males at birth, (iii) female infanticide, (iv) neglect of female
children, (v) higher female mortality and (vi) religious conversion of
males. It is very difficult to say which of these factors are responsible
for creating disparity among males and females in the
Jaina community. The Jaina population
being literate and intelligent would not indulge in concealing the females
at the time of the census. Since the exact figures of sex of children at
birth are not available we cannot say whether there is any excess of males
at birth in the Jaina community. The
Jainas are sufficiently advanced and as such
there could not be any possibility of practicing female infanticide by
them. It is true that in a society where the female children are
considered to be a burden, they are liable to be neglected. But this
neglect perhaps arises out of the economic condition of parents and as
economic condition of the Jaina community is
comparatively well, there are very less chances of females being
neglected. Female mortality is different at various age-periods. The death
rate among females is higher than that of males in the 5-10 years
age-group. This is due to the neglect of female children which varies to
some extent with economic circumstances and, as said above, female
mortality on this account must be low in the Jaina
community. A study of specific death rate shows that after the age of 5,
only in the 40 and over alp-groups, the female: death rate is lower than
that of male. This means that the female death rate is higher in age
period 5-40. If the female ratio for any community is declining it might
be due to the fact that the mortality amongst women aged between 5 and 40
might be more than offsetting the female superiority in the age groups 1
to 5 years and over 60 years. There is every probability that female death
rate between the age-period 5-40 might be higher in the
Jaina community as many
Jaina females are married at an early age and are called upon to
bear children too early and possibly too often. But, due to the lack of
figures of female death rate at various age-periods it is difficult to
pronounce to what extent the high female mortality is responsible for the
deficiency of females in the Jaina community
No religious conversion is resorted to by the Jaina
community and we should not, on this account, assume the excess of males
among the Jainas.
[This Table Page No. 27 to 34 is in �ALL TABLE�]
