Female infanticide : A Bitter Indian Reality

The other day I was reading a newspaper which said that the government would be stricter to people who are involved in killing female fetus and that a case of murder would be registered against them.

This topic has always disturbed me as I have always been biased towards birth of a female child. I can understand that the practice of killing female fetus is prevalent in rural India but the above report spoke about urban India, predominantly being part of it. I was surprised to read it because the urban India is really developing briskly and such mentality to exist in it is hard to believe.
Govt. gives free education to girl child till high school and even up to graduation level. Then there are so many vocational courses which assist girls to take up some decent jobs or start their own venture. With so many support factors, why do people go for aborting girl child?
One can justify that earlier girls would just be an extra expense to parents who would be married off but would end up putting a burden on their parent’s shoulders because of the cruel dowry system existing in most part of India and sadly among the higher classes as well.

The worst part is that the mother –in-laws themselves being a female expects their daughter-in-laws to give them a male grand child. Leave apart that that her own daughter would have given birth to girl child. She would ask for “mannat” so that a male child is born in their family. And that day would not be less than a festival. The maids would be given clothes and bonus. But none at the born of a girl child. One of my friends told me that people still go to some “baba” who would give a medicine to the female after which she would surely get a male child. This sounds ridiculous but it’s actually true. Not to forget the educated class would also be the visitor of baba.

Then you have some couples who would want a second child but this time for a boy.

So the whole society just revolves around males. And sadly the urban population has gone far ahead in education but the mentality still being generations old.

Now there are few set of parents who would be extremely proud of there daughter and would praise them in front of the whole world saying “Our daughter is no less than a son to us”. So here also a comparison with male is mandatory.

When will that day come when this society would treat females with equal stature as that of males?

By : Swati Sharma