The Indian girl-child: Fighting for survival in a hostile environment

By

Amar Nath Wadehra & Randeep Wadehra 

There are any number of Puranic and other mythological tales that deify women as Devis and paragons of all that is decent and divine. In different parts of the country there are rituals and festivals that worship girls. In our region the worship of Kanjaka on the eighth and ninth navratras is never missed by the traditional Hindu families. And yet, all these do not add up to a positive image of girls in our society nor do these ensure a secure and dignified life for them. Consider some facts:

1. Even today about five lakh female fetuses are aborted annually, indicating the desire for male child among Indian families.

2. More than 40 percent of the Indian population is known to be illiterate, with women, tribal and scheduled castes being the most affected.

3. Nearly two in every three women in India are illiterate. According to an estimate more than 50 percent of girls in India fail to enroll in school and those who do, most among them are likely to drop out by the age of 12.

4. 82 girls for every 100 boys get enrolled in school, while 35 million girls in India do not attend school at all.  

5. It is believed that every year 12 million girls are born in the country but unfortunately only one third of them survive. Some are killed in the womb, some at the time of birth, some die due to ill health and some due to poor nutritional status. Only a relatively small percentage of girls are able to survive beyond their 15th birthday.

6. Female feticide is most prevalent in Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

7. Girls bear the main brunt of poverty and malnutrition. Research shows that girls between 13 to 18 years of age have a lower percentage of iron, making them prone to anemia and other symptoms of poor health.

8. Every 93 minutes one dowry death occurs in India.

9. Every seven minutes, one woman dies from a pregnancy-related cause, with the situation getting further aggravated by early marriage.

Obviously, despite India making phenomenal economic progress, a vital section of its population still remains mired in poverty, illiteracy and ill-health. Unfortunately, this section comprises entirely of the female half of the population.

Despite various laws enacted to protect the girl-child she continues to suffer low status in the society. There are several reasons behind this trend – a combination of factors involving superstition, economics and societal attitudes. If we have to evaluate her status in society we need to look at the following parameters: the standard of education reached by her, condition of her health, her role in the society’s as well as her family’s economic decision making, her presence in various professions and the management cadres, he role in the family’s decision making process on different social and related matters. Invariably, on all these counts she remains in an unhappy position, which is mainly due to the following factors:

a) She is looked upon as an economic burden thanks to the dowry system;

b) Her birth stigmatizes her mother for failing to deliver a son;

c) The belief that only sons can enable retention of wealth within the family;

d) The fact that sons also prove to be more lucrative propositions as they fetch dowry;

e) On becoming a widow or a divorcee she becomes

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 Thank you for this fine article; it contains several pieces of information that were unknown to me. However, I think it would have been better if the sources of the various statistics furnished here had been given. Your observation that crime against women, including prostitution, is rising because of the skewed gender ratio seems valid. Incidentally, prostitution is no longer considered an organised crime. Recently, I saw a huge hoarding near a red light district in Kolkata exhorting workers away from home to use condoms and not bring home STDs. The people behind this well-intentioned campaign miss the point that it also acts as free publicity for the nearby red-light district. The hoarding has been put up by the government of West Bengal. It is disturbing to note “Rampant materialism and, now, consumerism, has introduced the practice of dowry even into those communities and castes where it never was a custom.” If this be true, from the sociological point of view, we are walking backwards while India is shining under a fake sun. I will be grateful if you continue your studies on this point and give your readers more details. Equally disturbing is your observation: “Medical experts point out that certain procedures meant to ensure healthy babies through the “enrichment” of X chromosome are now being misused to avoid birth of female babies.” Where are we heading?

Santanu | February 22, 2011

 All the laws enacted cannot bring any change unless mindsets change. There has to be a multipronged approach: 1. Educate daughters and instill in them the confidence to face life. 2. Have stringent laws which will take appropriate action against any violence, domestic or otherwise, that a girl child/woman faces. 3. The home is where equality of sexes has to first be practised - equal treatment / opportunity for the son and daughter. 4. Boys and men have to learn to respect the opposite sex, and not consider women as a piece of convenience to be exploited by the predominantly patriarchal societal attitudes. 5. A lot of awareness generation and conscientisation is taking place for girls, beginning at the School level, but their counterparts are not given any such input. This results in a skewed outcome. As adults the young men are not mentally prepared to cope with a forward looking, progressive, counterpart, be it at home or in the work place. It is time adolescent boys are also given counselling in life-skills. 6.Girls should also be made aware of striking a balance in the man-woman equation and not get into combative or contesting model! 7. Women(wives-mothers) should not be partners in the crime - amniocentesis - to do away with the girl child. These are just some of the points I choose to put down here.

Bhawani Cheerath | February 10, 2011