Female Infanticide

-‘Girls don't bring dowries, they bring medals’
In the global arena, India is indeed fast developing and is gradually becoming a force to reckon with and this makes us extremely proud. However, there are certain home truths we aren’t aware of or chose to turn a deaf ear to. Female infanticide is one of them.
Female infanticide is a deliberate and intentional act of killing a female child within one year of its birth either directly by using poisonous organic and inorganic chemicals or indirectly by deliberate neglect to feed the infant by either one of the parents or other family members. On the other hand, female feticide is the termination of the life of a foetus within the womb on the grounds that its sex is female. This practice is also commonly known as sex selective abortion.
India as a country is steeped in patriarchal values and thereby continues to talk about the importance of raising a male child. The idea of the male child enwraps an image of future security, protection, wealth and prosperity. Only can a male child grow up to look after his family. Only can a male child protect his family. Women are simply viewed as commodities and properties belonging to men. Women are perceived to be a burden on the family. From the time she is born, the only way her physical being/existence is given meaning is by virtue of marriage. In the institution of marriage lies the salvation of the woman. In looking after her husband and bearing children lies her attainment of Nirvana. And with marriage comes the social evil of ‘dowry’ (giving away lump sums of money and gifts during marriage) which continues to haunt families across the peninsula.
A large population of India continues to struggle on a daily basis for its survival. In a situation like this, the additional appendage of giving dowry to the groom’s family increases the misery of an already devastated financial situation of the average Indian family. This fear looms large in the minds of families and drastic measures of female infanticide are resorted to.
Recent reports have talked about the great difference in the ratio in population of males to females in areas of Northern India. It is believed that a number of steps are being taken by the Government to eradicate this social evil. However, female infanticide is one of the gnawing questions that remain unheard, unanswered in this excessively cultured nation that worships females. It is arguably the most brutal and destructive manifestation of the anti-female bias that pervades our hypocritical, patriarchal society, and remains a crucial concern.
In a century where women from different walks of life are seen to excel and carve out a niche for themselves, we live in a country where several thousands starve, ‘God-men’ justify rape, and where justice is delayed. The future seems grim. However, we must hope for a better tomorrow, as it is Hope that germinates ideas of empowerment. For this anti-human crime of the worst kind, the perpetrators must be brought to book. As a social evil, it continues to plague the rural and urban parts of our country, and unfortunately, times and the laws have been regressive. As solutions to ensure emancipation of the girl child in the truest sense of the term, gender sensitization at the grassroots, is the key step forward. It might be a daunting task ahead, but the phenomenon of changing mindsets, must be underway at the earliest. The process will be long, arduous and challenging. Yet it is the only way forward to ensure that we build a nation, and most importantly a society, which is going to be free of this heinous crime against the unborn girl child, where she can feel safe inside the womb, as well as outside it, into the light of a truly modern milieu, that prides in its girl child, rejoices at her birth, and gives to her, the greatest gift of equality with the opposite gender. If we have traversed through such chaos and turmoil, it must inevitably culminate in cosmos.