The world celebrates September 24 as the international girl child day. In India, however, this day will be celebrated on January 24. On this day in 1966, the late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the first women Prime Minister of India. Smt. Indira Gandhi was hailed as an icon of true women power and hence this historic day is a perfect choice to celebrate the national girl child day. It is a fact that the initiatives of the Government of India and by other world communities has opened up new vistas for a girl child besides creating awareness on girl child discrimination, visible and invisible. Equally so is the fact that there is still more scope for improvement, especially in the socio, economic, political, educational and psychological spectrums. Consider this: According to a shocking estimate by the UNICEF, some 39 million, that’s a whopping 3.9 crore women are ‘missing’ in India alone due to infanticide and sex-selective abortions! More disturbing is the dwindling numbers of female to male ratio which stands at 927:1000. And it is appalling to know that every sixth girl loses her life to gender discrimination.
The female mortality rate is almost 50% more than the male mortality rate in some 400 districts in India. The literacy rate is no exception with almost 50% of the country’s girls still uneducated. On the political arena, the 33 percent reservation for women is facing stiff opposition for implementation. Life has never been easy for a woman in India. From her birth to nourishment to her education to marriage and even in death everything in a girl’s life is decided by factors kept beyond her reach and grasp. Now let us take a peek into the bitter ground realities, and the possible solutions.
The crime of genocide
India is a fast developing nation. No doubt about that! The World Bank, in its global growth forecast for 2009 has said that even at times of recession, India along with China will fare better than its other global counterparts. Technology, agriculture, finance, economy and everything else except women empowerment has improved since independence. Take for instance the still prevalent female infanticide. According to an UNICEF report, the female infanticide is widely prevalent in 80% of the states in India, and in mostly wealthiest areas. In the most backward areas in India, particularly in the interiors of some states, a girl child is cruelly killed through ways beyond your wildest imagination!
The situation in cities is equally bad, if not worse. Here, technology is misused to kill an unborn girl child. Legally speaking, detecting the gender of an unborn child is banned in India. But the ground reality is strikingly different! A sting operation by the BBC in 2007 revealed how a leading gynaecologist recommended by the British High Commission illegally carried out the test to determine the sex of the baby and even offered to recommend another doctor for abortion of the girl child in the womb!
Tragically, things aren’t any better overseas, particularly among the Indian community settled in the U.K. The BBC’s Asian Network reports that an Oxford University study suggests that Indian mothers in U.K are aborting unborn girl children, after sex detection tests. About 1500 girls are ‘missing’ from the birth statistics in England and Wales from 1990 to 2005.
Social stigmas a girl child suffers
If female infanticide is only one ugly face of this genocide against a girl child, the other faces are equally grave. If a girl is lucky enough to be born, she is made to go through a lot of difficulties while growing up. Even today a girl child is seen as a burden in many Indian communities. She is deprived of basic education, nourishment, basic amenities and facilities at home. While the urban girl child is a bit fortunate in terms of education, nourishment and facilities, the rural girl child is not! Besides forced to do domestic chores and other activities, she suffers from mal nourishment. According to Child Relief and You (CRY), one in every two adolescent girls in India is undernourished. The lack of basic education, nourishment, and early marriage and motherhood often metes out an irreparable psychological trauma on the girl child. The saga almost ends there.
The political scenario too holds no bright promise for girl children and women in India. Even if the 33% reservation is somehow made to become a bill in the Parliament, male chauvinism and other political pressures will see to it that it is not effectively implemented. All that is needed today is the will to equally accept women in all fields and the change has to come at personal, psychological, political, and economic levels.
Ask yourself: Have you given enough personal space to the women in your home?
A woman plays many roles in a home. She is your mother, your sister, your wife, and your daughter. But where is the real she? Most of us fail to see the real woman, her potentials and her real identity that is veiled behind the many roles she plays at our homes. Ask yourself if you have made any genuine attempt to see behind this veil? How many men know the personal preferences of their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters? I am not talking about their favourite colours, movie stars or foods. This is about their innate talents, their preferences, and the due respect that she truly deserves. Despite a few women professionally qualified some men never care to discuss either domestic or professional issues with their women at their homes. Let us begin to see a woman as an individual, as a human first. Any cultured person cannot afford to ignore another human on mere gender basis. Let us celebrate the person. A woman when given equal opportunity could make your home and this world a better place to live in.
At a conference on ways to “Save the girl child,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated: “This is a national shame and we must face this challenge squarely here and now. No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women.”
As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world. And you and I should be the change to help start the change. Anyone’s listening?
1 comment:
Female foeticide and infanticide is more prevalent in states like Haryana and Delhi, and that too among middle class or upper middle class families. One of the reasons (most probably the most important reason) is that a girl is not considered productive as far as social status of the family is concerned. A family with more boys moves up the social ladder very fast. 2] Girls in many regions are considered 'paraya dhan' that have to be married off with a substantial dowry. So the family may feel that its better to get rid of the girl than lose out on wealth (or borrow from moneylenders) for dowry in cash or kind.
What we need to do is to first get rid of the social evils such as dowry and caste system in India. Only then can we place the girl child side by side with 'boy child' and look after their health, education, and individuality.
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