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| Saving the girl child | | | By Sunita Vakil
Adverse child sex ratio in India suggests a diabolic link that exists between urban prosperity and gender prejudice.
It is for the third successive year that India is celebrating the girl child. Yet, in the dark shadows of this land, a silent tragedy plays out for millions of women, girls and girl children who have to grapple with discrimination as a part of their everyday experience. What stands out as the worst statement about the state of India today is the fact that more than 1300 girls are aborted every day in the country. The Indian Medical Association estimates that five million female foetuses are aborted every year. These statistics do not sit well with a nation that has been of late rolling up its sleeves to play big power on the world stage. So why is this happening with a country gallowing along a great economic trajectory?
It is deeply unfortunate that of about 12 million girls born in India every year, a third of them die in the first year of their life and about three million do not survive past their fifteenth birthday. This alarming rate is the result of discrimination of the girl child at home and can be attributed to the “son” complex that most Indian families suffer from. Even in these changed times the plight of the girl child has not changed much. She is not given her right place and honour in the society. Girls in India seem to be the lesser children of God. In most of the families they are attended only after the boys. In many others, they are treated as unwanted baggages. So, the discrimination starts from the family itself where male has an edge over the female when it comes to feeding practices and other facilities. The disparity is further reflected in literacy, health, development and working environment. Further, the financial pressure put on parents at the time of her marriage puts the girl child at another level of disadvantage. The high incidence of crime and abuse against women adds to her woes. Nothing illustrates our apathy and indifference better that the fact that crimes like infanticide and female foeticide are perpetrated with impunity. In most cases, we go with the flow and look the other way for the sake of our convenience.
The sex ratio in India that has altered consistently in favour of boys suggests a discomffiting connection between urban prosperity and gender prejudice. Sensus figures reveal that the child sex ratio in the age group of Zero to six has dropped from 945 in 1991 to 926 in 2001. Clearly, we may need to look beyond ignorance and illiteracy to understand the alarming increase in female child mortality. In other words, these numbers tell us that in India, very low sex ratios at birth are believed to be the result of a surging economic growth that has pushed the survival rate of girls under sex in North India to a record low.
In fact, when we look at states that meet those criteria, we find just that Punjab and Haryana, which count among the better off states have indeed lowest sex ratios at birth. The same is the case with Delhi, a rich cosmopolitan megalopolis. Surprisingly, South West Delhi, one of the most plush areas, has one of its worst sex ratios predictably, the southern states do better in terms of CSR. The most girl child friendly state turns out to be Tamil Nadu with India’s best sex ratio of 1058 women to every 100 men. Karnataka and Kerala also fare well. But the real surprise is the North East region which shows CSRS that are far above the National average.
Ours is a country of contrasts. The contrasts between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural have always existed. But nowhere is this contrast more glaring than the relatively prosperous urban areas where the incidence of female foeticide is higher in comparison to rural areas. Census 2001 says that there is a 32 point decline in the sex ratio in urban areas as against 14 point fall in rural areas. The studies have found, for instance, that rural Chattisgarh and Orissa are doing well with 989 and 972 girls per 1000 boys while urban Punjab and equally prosperous Haryana are cause for worry with 761 and 861 women for every 1000 men.
These statistics translate that the grater wealth provides the financial means to seek an ultrasound test to determine the sex of the foetus. Increasing prosperity has resulted in mobile diagnostic facilities reaching even the rural areas. Reports reveal that in the last two decades, 10 million girls have died before being born. Many infants are killed by drowning in vessels of milk, snapping the neck with a jerk, stuffing its mouth with opium or placing a sandbag on its chest. As surmised, wealth does play a role in India’s falling sex ratio, a fact that has been corroborated by a study funded by charity Action Aid.
Obviously, conventional economic growth is not making a dent on India’s daunting problem. Adverse sex ratio persists, in spite of numerous steps taken by the govt. to check gender parity, because the problem is systemic and deep rooted. At the same time it can’t be denied that these dismal indicators bring to the fore the fact that ancient prejudice against the girl child still looms large in Indian society. It is ironic that in India where women are worshipped as goddesses, sons are preferred over daughters. While the birth of a male child is greeted with Jubilation, a daughter is treated as a burden. In rural areas, not much emphasis is laid on the education of the girl child. She is made to work at home and in fields. Though there are laws galore to provide them protection, kidnapping, abduction, rape, murder, dowry deaths and female foeticide are taking place in the country regularly. Too many times law upholders look the other way when arguments condoning crimes like “honour killings” or “ritual murders” come in the form of tradition.
We all take pride in being a country having had the longest serving women Prime Minister. Besides, we have the distinction of having women in the posts of president, Lok Sabha Speaker and leader of opposition. But collectively, as a nation, we seem to have turned our face away from millions of women who need all the help and opportunities they can get. It is certainly disgraceful that our female literacy rate is a s low as 39.42 percent. It is a similar story of shame when it comes to health care for women. The maternal mortality rate is 4.6 per cent per live births. Women’s health has never been a top agenda for anyone. They are often malnourished and more than 60% of them suffer from anemia. For most rural women, clinic is very far off and the poor ones are denied entry by doctors. It was only a few months back that there were reports of a women dying on the roadside after giving birth to a sickly child.
In such scheme of things, legislative measures to stem the falling sex ratio look lopsided. The dismal ratio in spite of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 1994 clearly indicates that legal provisions can easily be circumvented by unscrupulous doctors who continue to find ways to beat the law. It would make better sense to focus on the holistic empowerment of women. The best way to stop discrimination against the girl child is to ensure her uninterrupted education and reduce her economic dependence on men. For, it is only through education and economic empowerment that these indicators can be reversed. The same has been reiterated by the president Pratibha Patil recently when she said that proper nutrition, education and financial independence will go a long way in aiding the cause of the girl child. But we need more than that. We need to change our attitudes to help create a safer and better tomorrow for the girl child.
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