Sex Differentials in Undernutrition: A Look at Survey Evidence

This note seeks indirect evidence regarding possible sex biases in food intake for adults and children, through large‐scale survey findings for anthropometric indicators. Among adults, excess female undernutrition is a serious problem in view of the large populations concerned (rural China, India), but data are still needed to assess the situation in many countries. Regarding preschool children, the anti‐female biases once noted for China, India, and other countries seem to have disappeared. Where differences exist, boys fare worse than girls (probably because girls, given a less than adequate food supply, tend to cope with it better than boys). Anti‐female discriminatory practices either are limited in magnitude or apply in groups that are too few or too small to be detectable in large populations.