Creator of life

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A woman is the one who bores life. A woman is the one who nurtures her baby for nine long months in her uterus facing so many hassles. A woman is fundamentally a god. In every culture god has the upmost significance, then why women are still economically, lawfully, duty wise and respect wise given stunted importance? A country like India having phenomenally powerful women deities, then why are female foeticides still continuing? Nature has never been partial towards any gender. However, social norms have dictated otherwise. As per a report by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), female foeticide reasons in India range from a preference for a son to gender inequality due to an existing patriarchal structure. Patriarchy is interconnected to female foeticides. Partiality towards male babies doesn’t just occur at birth, but it exists as an entire system. This system forces mothers to produce male heirs, and in failing to do so, undergo female foeticide. So many women face extreme abuse either by her husband or by her family for giving birth to female child and this is the leading cause of girl foeticide. This practice is silently overlooked and continues through the generations.

As stated earlier, stigma, taunts, and abuse from both family members and society often become female foeticide reasons. Sometimes even women aid in the heinous act due to financial constraints and dependency. Adding a daughter to the family will result in another mouth to feed along with the burden of dowry. This thought could deteriorate the parent-child relationship leaving the girl child vulnerable to sexual abuse. The female feticide in India carries on for these many reasons and much more. No doubt the practice of female aborticide has decreased over the following years as the awareness about not killing the girl fetus, girl/women education has escalated but the rate of improvement is comparatively low. Not only in the rural areas but also in urban area female fetuses are aborted. It shows that the belief of few myths is stronger than the literacy level of few people.

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Reasons for female infanticide-
1) Anti-female bias, as women are often seen as subservient to men, who often employ positions of power.
2) In addition, parents believe they will be better taken care of in their old age by men, as men are perceived as the principal wage earners of the family.
3) Parents of girls are usually expected to pay a dowry, which could be a massive expense, avoided by raising males.

Dowry

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The concept of dowry is the dominant cause of girl infanticide. A girl is an individual in her own right. Equal opportunities in life can help her become independent and strong. She is not a burdensome object to be given away with money as compensation. Thus dowry negates the girl’s dignity and self-respect. Mahatma Gandhi writes: “Any young man who makes dowry a condition for marriage discredits his education and his country and dishonors womanhood. Young men who soil their fingers with such ill-gotten gold should be excommunicated from society.” However, these efforts did not minimize the evil to any noticeable extent. Dowry is not the token of gift or love but an unwritten haq (right) of the groom and his parents.

What we need today is a crusade against this evil, which has, intact, ruined several families and has been destroyed lives of thousands of women year after year. There is a need to chalk out a programme having both curative and preventive measures and long-term and short-term devices. The curative and long-term measures would include inculcation of a new ideology and a value system which guarantees a place of honour to women and their parents. Thus dowry is also the reason for female infanticide because people try to escape from the burden of giving dowry.

Female infanticide act

Female foeticide is not new in India and it is a social evil. The Indian government recognized it and passed the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994 also known as the Female Feticide Act. This act essentially banned prenatal sex determination. The ambit of the law extended to genetic counseling, laboratory and clinics engaged in counseling or conducting pre-natal diagnostics techniques. The centers often involved in procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF) with the intention of sex selection before and after conception also come under the purview of the PCPNDT Act. Sex determination is strictly banned across the country to stop female feticide in India. It aimed to prevent sex detection after conception and sex-selective abortions by wrong-fully using prenatal sex diagnosis. Those found guilty can face up to three years of jail term and a penalty of up to Rs 50,000.

How to stop girl foeticide?

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1) It is clearly understood that eradicating the practice of offering dowry can help reduce the female infanticide. This evil practice is also making people so violent that new brides are being set ablaze for dowry. 2) People should be educated even about religious practices that offering your daughter’s hand in marriage (Kanyadaan) provide you with all the benefits.
3) Awareness should be brought that bearing a child is itself a symbol of potency whether it is a girl or a boy.
4) Everyone should strongly believe that bringing up a girl is like bringing up a future mother who has to restructure a family tomorrow.

Woman is the one who gives life and she should not be forced to abort her baby whatever the gender might be. Females are the most powerful being and should be respected and treated equally. Girl infant should be loved as much as a boy infant and the mass should get over with the concept of dowry as it leads to nothing but disrespect to women and the dominance of male in the society.