LAUSR

This paper looks at a little-known part of Leela Dube’s writings through a debate between her and the economic historian, Dharma Kumar, on sex-selective abortion. Drawing on comparative and cross-cultural work on gender and kinship, Dube questioned the application of demandsupply dynamics to social relations and was prescient of later developments in the juvenile sex ratio. The paper argues that Dube and the debate draws attention to four themes that remain relevant to an understanding of sex ratios and gender relations. These are the significance and construction of the social, the depth, range and contours of diversity, understandings of preference, choice and agency, and state action and responsibility.