President Pratibha Patil on Saturday described the low sex ratio in the country as “pathetic” and called for urgent corrective steps in this regard and further emphasised that this imbalance is the result of social prejudices.

“The 2011 provisional Census figures have just been released. The picture shows that the female ratio of our population remains low. It is 940 females per thousand males. I think it is becoming a pathetic situation,” Patil said at a function organised by the Nanhi Chhan Foundation in New Delhi on Saturday.

“This imbalance in population is caused by social prejudices that have led to condemnable practices of female foeticide and female infanticide, which in my opinion and, I do not think that anyone can dispute it, needs urgent corrective steps,” she said.

The President also stressed the need for a new social movement for gender equality that will change society’s attitude towards women and promote an understanding, that women and men have a complementary and supplementary role to play in building a happy home, a peaceful society and a prosperous future.

“The mindset that a girl is a burden arises from social evils like the dowry system. Dowry is killing the girl child and the sentiments of love and affection. It also exposes the family of the girl to a sense of subordination, and indeed, a feeling of being beholden to the boy’s family,” she said.