- 19-Sep-2025
- Elder & Estate Planning law
Malnutrition is a pervasive issue in India, affecting millions of children, with girls often facing disproportionate consequences. Gender disparities in food allocation, cultural preferences for male children, and limited access to healthcare and nutrition services for girls contribute significantly to this inequality. Despite various legal frameworks and government schemes designed to improve the nutritional status of children, girls continue to suffer from the compounded effects of malnutrition, which impacts their physical and mental development. Understanding how malnutrition disproportionately affects girls under Indian law requires examining the intersection of gender discrimination, socio-economic factors, and the legal protections in place to address this issue.
In many households, particularly in rural areas, food is often distributed unequally among children, with boys receiving priority over girls. Cultural practices in some regions emphasize feeding boys more, as they are seen as future breadwinners, while girls are expected to get by on smaller portions. This food bias leads to chronic malnutrition in girls, especially in impoverished families.
Girls often have lower access to healthcare and nutrition services compared to boys. This is partly due to entrenched gender roles that prioritize the health of male children over females. Girls may not receive timely medical attention for malnutrition-related issues, and their nutritional needs may be neglected in favor of male siblings. This practice is rooted in deep-seated cultural and economic gender discrimination.
Girls are more vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies such as anemia, vitamin D deficiency, and stunted growth due to the unequal distribution of food and lack of adequate healthcare. Malnutrition in girls often goes unnoticed or is underreported, as society tends to undervalue the health and well-being of females. This exacerbates the risks of long-term health problems, including delayed physical and cognitive development.
Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition due to rapid physical development, menstruation, and the increasing demands of education. Inadequate diets during this critical stage of life can lead to long-term consequences, including low birth weight in future pregnancies, increased susceptibility to infections, and poor academic performance. The nutritional needs of adolescent girls are often overlooked by existing public health programs and societal expectations.
The NFSA recognizes the right to food for all citizens and aims to ensure food security to vulnerable groups, including women and children. Under this Act, there are provisions to provide subsidized food grains through the Public Distribution System (PDS) and support for nutritional programs. However, there are concerns regarding the implementation of these provisions, as the distribution of food often remains inequitable, with girls continuing to face discrimination in food allocation.
The ICDS scheme aims to address the nutritional and health needs of children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. Under this program, anganwadi centers provide supplementary nutrition, immunization, and health services. Despite its widespread reach, the effectiveness of ICDS is limited by factors such as underfunding, lack of trained staff, and cultural biases that affect girls' access to these services.
While primarily a law to protect children from sexual abuse, the POCSO Act also underscores the importance of safeguarding children’s well-being. Malnutrition, as a form of neglect, may be indirectly addressed under this law, as it falls under the broader category of child abuse. However, the law does not directly address malnutrition and its gendered impact.
This scheme, launched by the Government of India, seeks to promote the welfare of the girl child, focusing on issues like education, health, and nutrition. While it indirectly targets malnutrition by promoting the well-being of girls, its impact on malnutrition remains limited without a robust mechanism for monitoring food and health security specifically for girls.
The National Nutrition Policy aims to address the malnutrition crisis in India, particularly focusing on vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers. Though the policy emphasizes the importance of addressing gender disparities in nutrition, the implementation remains uneven, and girls continue to experience higher levels of malnutrition due to socio-economic and cultural factors.
Gendered social norms often dictate how food and healthcare resources are allocated within families. These norms favor boys over girls in terms of food intake, healthcare, and educational opportunities, making it more difficult for girls to access the nutrition they need. These biases are deep-rooted and challenge legal frameworks' efforts to ensure equal access to food and health services.
There is a lack of gender-specific data on malnutrition and its impact on girls, which makes it difficult to design targeted interventions. Monitoring systems in India often aggregate data without considering the specific nutritional needs of girls, leading to policies that fail to address the unique challenges faced by them.
While there are various schemes and laws aimed at improving nutrition and healthcare, their implementation is often inefficient, especially in rural and marginalized communities. Corruption, underfunding, and lack of awareness about these schemes further hinder their effectiveness in addressing malnutrition, particularly among girls.
A study conducted in rural Uttar Pradesh found that girls were less likely to be enrolled in school meal programs and received smaller portions of food than boys. This was due to cultural biases where boys were prioritized in food distribution, and girls were expected to work in household chores. The consequences were severe for many girls, who faced stunted growth, iron deficiency anemia, and low educational attainment, all of which were linked to their poor nutrition.
Malnutrition disproportionately affects girls in India due to entrenched gender biases, socio-economic inequalities, and inadequate implementation of legal protections. While Indian laws and government schemes exist to address malnutrition, they often fail to account for the specific challenges girls face in accessing nutrition and healthcare. To effectively combat this issue, Indian laws must adopt a more gender-sensitive approach, focusing on equitable food distribution, strengthening healthcare access for girls, and ensuring that cultural biases do not interfere with their nutritional needs. Addressing malnutrition in girls is not only a matter of health but also a step towards achieving gender equality and empowering future generations of women.
Answer By Law4u Team
Discover clear and detailed answers to common questions about Civil Rights. Learn about procedures and more in straightforward language.
