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GENDERCIDE IN INDIA

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GENDERCIDE IN INDIA
GENDERCIDE IN
INDIA
SOCIAL SCIENCE 210
LYDIA SIAPARDANI
5-30-2014

Is sex-selection an action of
Gendercide?

What is Gendercide?
• The term used for the first time by the feminist Mary
Ann Warren in her book
“Gendercide: The Implication of Sex Selection”, in 1985
• It is an analogy with the word
Genocide
• It is defined as the systematic mass killing by any means of members of specific sex
• Main victims are usually women and minorities

What Happens in India
• Gendercide in India is a practice that has its roots quite back to the
Indian history.
• It is mainly practiced by two ways:
1) Sex selective abortions 2) By killing or abandoning the newborns baby girsl

• Since 1960 up to nowadays, 12 million of girl fetuses have been aborted on purpose by their parents while the exact number of murdered or abandoned baby girls is not known

What Happens in India

What Happens in India
• In 1996 the termination of a pregnacy because of the sex became illegal.
However the numbers of sex-selective abortions have increased dramatically
• This increment is caused by the progress of technology

• Despite the legislation, in
New Delhi there are many clinics which provide ultrasounds for this purpose.
In addition, there are enough technicians who pack portable ultrasounds travelling in the villages offering their services
• They women who cannot afford an ultrasound are usually abandon their babies in garbage or in rivers

The causes
• The main causes are two:
1) The extreme poverty
2) The cultural preferences for boys
However both reasons have the same explanation:
The intense sex discrimination between males and females

• Girls are considered as a weight for the family mainly because the girl needs dowry to be married • On the other hand, the son will make the family wealthier, will continue the family name and will take care of the family as there is no social security

The causes
• There is also a secondary cause; the theory of Paul
Ehrlich according to which the
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