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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Is it a curse to be born as a girl child?

On the occasion of International Girl Child day, I could not stop myself from sharing my thoughts on Female Foeticide in India. India is a land that boasts of  having the maximum number of Goddess and it also boasts of the killing of maximum number of foetus of girls. The foetus is being killed or destroyed when its still in its mother's womb and is yet to see the light of the day. What an irony of facts!!! In many Indian families, still its being considered a curse to have a girl child and the mother is often being treated badly for that though she has little to do or almost has no hand in the birth of a girl. Genetically, its the man who is responsible for a girl child because of the X-Y chromosome factor.

Traditionally it was being treated that male members of a family are torch bearers and they would carry forward the name and legacy of a family. They would have the surname with their name and also in the event of death it would the male would perform the last rites. A woman after getting married is no longer considered a member of her family of birth. All these aspects led to the support of a boy over a girl. Moreover, it is the old females in a family who want male child in spite of their being females themselves. They make the life of a woman horrible if she gives birth to a girl child. But who has created all these rules, this same society that can mend any rules to favour it. Moreover, girls nowadays can keep their maiden name even after marriage. And there are many families where girls have excelled more than the boys of that family and they have become the torch bearers. And killing of a life even before it could start its life cannot be justifiable in any sense.

The more educated and developed we have become, the more dogmatic and doomed, have become our views. Perhaps the most developed states of India have high incidence of Female foeticide. The overall sex ratio is also very poor in those states. The National Capital is leading them all in having a low sex ratio in the country, a shame to many. Education helps us to gain knowledge but this knowledge can be both ways and it also lets you know the ways to detect sex before birth. Government has also tried to implement laws to prevent pre natal detection of sex but without much success. The Preconception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 could not be of much success as only few cases have been reported under it.

The other factors like dowry is also an important cause for families supporting male child over females. Dowry in South India, especially in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu is very much prevalent. And the more educated and better employed he is, the more is his rate. Also, in some states of North India, there different set of rates earmarked for different jobs, IAS, Doctor, Engineer has separate prices set for them. The education provided to a girl is of no value when considered with this. All these systems prevalent have been responsible for such crimes being committed by parents because parents consider that with birth of a girl it brings an added burden of dowry also.

The government while looking into the issue of Female Foeticide also needs to look into the other issues that are responsible for this. And unless we could eradicate those issues, it would be very difficult to stop female foeticide. Moreover, men should also start realising that if such killing of female foetus goes on then they would be the only ones staying in this world and that would be their last generation.

15 COMMENTS:

Debajyoti Datta said...

As much I abhor the practice, this certainly raises some interesting ethical questions. Should we allow female foeticide if the mother wants it? I wrote about the ethical debate on the doc2doc blogs -http://doc2doc.bmj.com/blogs/foodblog/_female-foeticide-rights-of-mother

Shreya said...

I am glad too see a boy writing for saving a girl child. Its nice that you are spreading knowledge about it. Its great that you respect girls. Nice post, yea its not easy being a woman.. but I hope time will change n even its changing, now people n government are taking steps to save girl child. Thanks for sharing this post. Keep posting. Happy blogging!! :)

POOJA... said...

thank you so much for executing such a great thought in such manner...
its a difficult to be in this side{female}, feels bad n sad whenever gotta know anything as female Foeticide or death caz of dowry...
but sometimes it also feels great when use read such feelings n meet some kind words...
so changes are in the air... hope to get them everywhere asap...
keep writing... :)
great to meet ur thoughts... :)

Shreya said...

Looking back into history there was a time when women definitely out numbered men and so started the pratha of one man marrying many women. This pushed the fact that men started being the torch bearers since n number of women were indirectly his responsibilty.
Now things are at a reverse I am sure soon may be after 100 years(soon in historic time line) women will be much less in number and then history will repeat itself in a little different way.
I am not being appreciative of female foeticite instead i condmen it completely but just giving an different angle of thinking.

Appreciate your post.

Anonymous said...

Great post and a very thoughtful one. This is a crime I would rank to be the highest. YoOu have a nice blog. Following it right away. - Ashwini

Shama said...

*thumbs up* such a great post...
thanks for kind words at my blog :)

love x

Madhulika said...

Great Post... Thoughts provoking..
Thanks a lot for passing by my blog...
Hope to stay connected :)

Debajyoti Datta said...

I have been meaning to say this and Ashwini I have to disagree with you. If you see the census report, the situation is quite the opposite. The sex ratio is markedly worse in urban areas than rural areas. See http://updateox.com/india/rural-and-urban-sex-ratio-in-india/.

Arguably education has done nothing to improve the sex ratio. In fact we can say that education has worsened the sex ratio by putting money in people's hand so that they can opt for foetal sex determination and female foeticide. Such financial means are not available to the rural folks and hence the rural sex ratio is some what better than urban sex ratio.

This also demonstrates failure of the education system of India. People know how to earn money but don't know to value a girl child.

Anonymous said...

Very well written. Very well discussed.

I know someone who was charred to death due to dowry reasons. The family filed a case and later sttled it out of court.

Educated class has changed much but middle class is still heavily biased. Sad state.

Anonymous said...

very nice thoughts given in this article i loved to read it it was a fab article if all the readers would follow it then there will be no such problemin our society

Unknown said...

What a blog dude, As guys we should take the.responsibility in our hands to make sure that such shamefull events a shouldn't take place in the society again, as due to Certrain
Dckhead Motherfuckers , we guys shouldn't be generalized a rapist moreover we all gab mothers and sisters and we lobe them from the core of our heart...and talking about weather bieng a girl child is a curse , i definitely don't think that as they are said to be MAA LAKSMI n how good can be a curse,n whenever i will get married i would like to have a girl child for that matter.....

Unknown said...

What a blog dude, As guys we should take the.responsibility in our hands to make sure that such shamefull events a shouldn't take place in the society again, as due to Certrain
Dckhead Motherfuckers , we guys shouldn't be generalized a rapist moreover we all gab mothers and sisters and we lobe them from the core of our heart...and talking about weather bieng a girl child is a curse , i definitely don't think that as they are said to be MAA LAKSMI n how good can be a curse,n whenever i will get married i would like to have a girl child for that matter.....

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