DEATH BEFORE BIRTH
Few years ago, almost all the couple was used of the sex determination tests to know the sex of the infant before birth. And abortion was sure in case of girl baby. There are lots of myths in the Indian society about girls that girls always take and boys always give. This wrong practice of female foeticide is coming from years because of many reasons . Various religious, social, financial and emotional reasons are also there. Time has been changed now to a great extent however, various reasons and beliefs are continuing in some families. Some key reasons of female foeticide are
- Generally parents avoid girl baby because they have to pay a big amount (more than their strength) as a dowry at daughter’s marriage.
- There is a believe that girls are always consumer and boys are producer. Parents understand that son earn money for them whole life and care their parents however girls will get married a day and go away.
- There is a myth that son will carry name of family in future whereas girl have to carry husband’s family.
- Parents and grandparents understand their honor while having boy baby in the family whereas shame having daughter.
- There is a pressure on new bride of the family to give birth to a male child thus she is forced to go for sex determination and abortion if girl baby.
- Illiteracy, insecurity and poverty of people in society are main reasons of girl baby burden.
- Technological advancement in the science and utilities has made this very easy for parents
The girl child is not only unsafe inside her mother’s womb. Even after her birth, she has to face various hardships because of gender inequality. We must save the girl child after her birth as well. We all agree that girls’ education is very important. The girls should get a safe and comfortable environment at schools. The girl should get equal access to the educational resources of the school. There should be separate toilets for girl-children at schools. There is need for a shift in mental attitude in favor of equality between boys and girls. The belief that only a male-child can support the parents during the old age doesn’t hold true in today’s context. A girl can take care and support her family as well. The family members of the girl child should come forward to protect her rights, both within and outside her home. She should never be engaged as a child labor. The physical abuse and harassment of girl child should be dealt strictly. The guilty should be punished as per the law. Emphasis should be made to impart moral education to put an end to this evil system. There should be strong ethical code for the doctors. Women should be empowered to deal with discriminatory practices in the society like dowry system, etc.There should be immediate complaint registration system for all women.
As we all know that female foeticide is a crime and social disaster for the future of women. All the laws should be strictly followed by the every citizens of India. And one should be surely punished if found guilty for this cruel practice. .Female foeticide awareness program should be run to aware common public. Satyameva Jayate, a most famous program me run by the Aamir Khan on TV has done great to raise awareness among common public through its first episode of “Daughters Are Precious”. Cultural interventions regarding this issue are needed to be addressed through awareness programs. Recent awareness programs like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, or save girls campaign, etc have been made regarding girl’s rights...Assessment of the status of women (regarding female mortality, sex ratio, literacy and economic participation) should be done on regular interval of time.
We live in modern generation of humanity .We do require an environment which is considered as safe .So it’s the duty of every citizen of our country to create an environment where every offspring is welcomed without gender discrimination. Let’s live and make everyone to be lived.
Bhanu Priya
Principal of AICCEDS , Uttar Pradesh
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