Female Infanticide and Foeticide
Female Infanticide is the intentional killing of female infants, majorly for the reason that they are considered as more of a burden than a blessing to the family. Female infanticide is prevalent in developing countries like India and China especially among the people in the rural areas. The general conception among the poor is that daughters are not very helpful when it comes to earning for the family or sharing the farm work. They also leave the house after marriage to stay with their in-laws, unlike sons who saty with their parents even after marriage and contribute significantly by sharing the burden. In addition to this, the prevalence of the dowry system in the rural areas is another significant reason for this sex-selective infanticide.
The root of female infanticide in India is mostly economic - daughters will require a sizable financial dowry in order to marry. Because daughters leave their families of origin, they are often regarded as temporary members of their families and a drain on its wealth. There is an expression in India that “bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbor’s plant”.
Female foeticide which is the intentional sex-selective abortion of the foetus is also a common yet secretive practise in India. The practise of prenatal sex determination of the foetus though illegal, is carried by many illegitimate clinics for a paltry sum. Though such sex selective abortion is on the decline due to crackdown by state governments, they are far from being obliterated.
Pre-natal sex determination is not affordable by the poor, where in girls born are killed or put through sex selective neglect.The Bedees (a branch of the Sikhs) were known as koree mar , or “daughter butchers.” Today, in India the ratio of women to men continues to declince from 972 females to 1000 males in 1901 to 935 in 1981 to around 790 in 2001 .The English paper The Hindu reports that on an average 105 female infants were killed every month in Dharmapuri district throughout 1997. This was in spite of efforts to protect female children (The Hindu, 1998). In another region, the Kallars (landless laborers in Tamil Nadu), view female infanticide as the only way out of the dowry problem.
The reasons for female infanticide are much more complex than simple poverty. In Punjab, India's richest state, females constituted 85% of deaths among infants ages 7 to 36 months. This has been attributed to the general norm of the upper castes and tribes that would rather murder female infants than give them to a rival group even in marriage
Birth order appears to be a significant risk factor for girls, with second, third or fourth (or later) born girls at highest risk. First-born daughters are often allowed to live because they will help with the household chores (deLamo, 1997). Perhaps this reflects a general negative attitude toward girls that goes beyond the need to provide a dowry.Sex-selective neglect may also contribute to female mortality. Girls are breastfed less frequently and for a shorter duration. To us, this may seem to be no big deal, but in the developing world, this puts them at significant risk. Further, when girls get sick, the family is much less likely to seek medical assistance.
Recent efforts to save baby girls in Tamil Nadu have not been particularly successful. Family honor is a barrier to these intervention efforts. Families don’t want to allow a girl to live if she will go through life as an outcast, with no caste, identity, or family background. Also, families are concerned that the girl may one day return to dishonor the family or seek vengeance.
The problem of gender bias is very deeply rooted in our customs and traditions, and requires very careful handling.
1) Ensuring strict implementation of existing legislation.
2) The advocacy of a scientific, rational, and humanist approach.
3) The empowerment of women and a strengthening of women's rights through campaigning against practices such as dowry.
4) Inculcating a strong ethical code of conduct among medical professionals, beginning with their training as undergraduates.
5) Simple methods of complaint registration, accessible to the poorest and most vulnerable women.
6) Wide publication in the media of the scale and seriousness of the practice.
7) NGOs should take a key role in educating the public on this matter.
8) Regular assessment of indicators of status of women in society, such as sex ratio, and female mortality, literacy, and economic participation.
9) Launching schemes which provide financial assistance to families with female children.
References
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/185
http://www.domesticviolenceservices.com/female-infanticide.html
HTML Comment Box is loading comments...