The Girl Child in India
...ir Husain has stated that, under current Indian law anyone seeking technological help to choose the sex of their child can be jailed for 3 years, and the doctor conducting these tests or helping the mother abort the child can lose his/her license. About 450 cases have been lodged against doctors and patients in the last two years, but Dr. Husain says that he has not yet heard of a doctor losing a medical license for this. Thus, this is an indication of how non-relentlessly the government is responding to the matter. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly harder for citizens to find jobs in the agriculture business that they have become so accustomed to. This is mainly because India’s cash-crop agriculture business has become very technology-oriented, thus not as many laborers are needed on the farms. Consequently, this makes it harder for parents in the rural areas of India to raise a daughter, and so they become to depend on the sex-determination tests in hopes for a son. Since the 1980’s the Indian media and other major newspapers began to carry advertisements for clinics offering sex determinations. These techniques were popularized and today there are even mobile ultrasound units that regularly visit the rural areas. Abortion of female fetuses is no longer an urban phenomenon in those parts of India. India’s patriarchal society emphasizes the need for male heirs; it has spread across all regions, and among the rich and the poor. A son is considered an extra pair of hands to earn the income for the family, whereas girls, who need a dowry to attract a husband, are viewed as economic and social burdens. The bias against females in India is related to the fact that sons are looked upon as a type of insurance. With this perspective, it becomes clearer that the high value given to males decreases the value given to females. A recent study of Tamil Nadu by the Community Service Guild of Madras, found that female infanticide is rampant in this state. Of the 1250 families covered by the study, 740 had only 1 girl child, and 249 agreed directly that they had done away with the unwanted girl child. Furthermore, according to the 2001 census, the overall birthrate for India was 927 girls per 1000 boys, a steady decline from previous years. These statistics mean that, as a result of abortions or killing girls in infancy, up to 5 million baby girls “disappear” from India every year. Moreover, women have begun to prefer sons, as it is often the only way to increase their status in the otherwise subordinate life. Often a woman who gives birth to a daughter gets treated much worse than one who gives birth to a son. In addition, the government’s push for two-child families to slow population growth has only worsened the situation. With a small family norm, many people want boys, so they have abortions and keep trying when it’s a girl. A recent study done by demographer Aniruddah Malpani indicates that, as prosperity goes up in India, the sex ratio seems to go down, meaning that as Indians grow wealthier, they raise fewer baby girls. Lastly, while a daughter might drain the family finances, a son could actually enhance it. And as time goes by, dowry demands seem only to be increasing, making sons the smarter family investment. “In Indian society, daughter means a liability, and son means an asset.” Says Dr. Patel Minnosane. Among the complex social and cultural reasons in India for son preference, no doubt the most compelling is the economically crippling system of dowry. Dowry stems from the early concept of ‘sri danam’ in which gifts, like jewellery and a quarter pound of gold, was given to the bride by her family in order to secure some personal wealth for her when she gets married. However, in the 19th century, the loving practice of ‘sri danam’ was joined by the very much different concept of dowry. Dowry became first an expected, then a demanded offering given by the bride’s family to the groom’s family at the time of the marriage. This was made to the groom’s family as a token of gratitude for accepting the girl into their family, and for allowing her natal family to get rid of her. Thus, as dowry demands get higher, parents stop caring about providing sufficient food, education, and development for their daughters, as they have to save every little scrap for the wedding. “Grooming a girl,” says an Indian magazine, “is like watering a neighbor’s garden.” Moreover, even with the establishment of the D...