female foeticide in india
Female Foeticide in India: The Plight of Being Born a Woman:-
Life is a constant struggle, a fight against everything and everyone around you, a fight against the high tides to keep afloat. The battle for life commences right from the day a girl child is conceived in her mother’s womb. Her existence, her survival, is as unpredictable as the game of Pitch and Toss. The metaphor stands justified if one gives a quick glance towards some statistics, which tell you that around 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India, and the sex ratio tells the true story: 927 girls for 1000 boys. The scenario is grim. Female foeticide is the act of aborting a foetus because it is female. This is a major social problem in India and has cultural connections with the dowry system that is ingrained in Indian culture, despite the fact that it has been prohibited by law since 1961. In India a strong preference for sons over daughters exists, unlike in Western cultures. People realize smaller family sizes with relatively greater number of sons through the use of medical technologies. Pregnancies are planned by resorting to 'differential contraception' — contraception is used based on the number of surviving sons irrespective of family size. Following conception, foetal sex is determined by prenatal diagnostic techniques after which female foetuses are aborted. Foetal sex determination and sex-selective abortion by medical professionals has grown into a 1,000 crore industry (US$244 million). Social discrimination against women and a preference for sons have been promoted. Since 1991, 80% of districts in India have recorded an increasingly masculine sex ratio with the state of Punjab having the most masculine sex ratio. According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and
Life is a constant struggle, a fight against everything and everyone around you, a fight against the high tides to keep afloat. The battle for life commences right from the day a girl child is conceived in her mother’s womb. Her existence, her survival, is as unpredictable as the game of Pitch and Toss. The metaphor stands justified if one gives a quick glance towards some statistics, which tell you that around 10 million female fetuses have been aborted in India, and the sex ratio tells the true story: 927 girls for 1000 boys. The scenario is grim. Female foeticide is the act of aborting a foetus because it is female. This is a major social problem in India and has cultural connections with the dowry system that is ingrained in Indian culture, despite the fact that it has been prohibited by law since 1961. In India a strong preference for sons over daughters exists, unlike in Western cultures. People realize smaller family sizes with relatively greater number of sons through the use of medical technologies. Pregnancies are planned by resorting to 'differential contraception' — contraception is used based on the number of surviving sons irrespective of family size. Following conception, foetal sex is determined by prenatal diagnostic techniques after which female foetuses are aborted. Foetal sex determination and sex-selective abortion by medical professionals has grown into a 1,000 crore industry (US$244 million). Social discrimination against women and a preference for sons have been promoted. Since 1991, 80% of districts in India have recorded an increasingly masculine sex ratio with the state of Punjab having the most masculine sex ratio. According to the decennial Indian census, the sex ratio in the 0-6 age group in India went from 104.0 males per 100 females in 1981, to 105.8 in 1991, to 107.8 in 2001, to 109.4 in 2011. The ratio is significantly higher in certain states such as Punjab and