Posted on 02/09/2005 2:10:07 PM PST by Huntress
MADRAS, INDIA The oleander plant yields a bright, pleasant flower, but also a milky sap that, if ingested, can be a deadly poison. It's one of the methods families use to kill newborn girls in the Salem District of Tamil Nadu, a part of India notorious for female infanticide. Though the government has battled the practice for decades, India's gender imbalance has worsened in recent years. Any progress toward halting infanticide, it seems, has been offset by a rise in sex-selective abortions. Too many couples - aided by medical technology, unethical doctors, and weak enforcement of laws banning abortion on the basis of gender - are electing to end a pregnancy if the fetus is female.
The consequence of female infanticide and, more recently, abortion is India's awkwardly skewed gender ratio, among the most imbalanced in the world. The ratio among children up to the age of 6 was 962 girls per 1,000 boys in 1981, but 20 years later the inequity was actually worse: 927 girls per 1,000 boys.
Infanticide is illegal in India (though never prosecuted), and laws are also in place to stop sex- selective abortions. But in some places, national rules don't hold enough sway to overcome local religious and social customs - which remain biased in favor of sons over daughters.
"Factors like dowry, imbalance in the employment sector whereby the male is seen as breadwinner, and societal pressure to abort female fetuses conspire to increase the antigirl bias," says Ajay K. Tripathi of the Advanced Studies in Public Health Programme, of the Institute of Health Systems in Hyderabad. Government and the medical profession, he says, need to put more resources - and more political will - into strengthening and enforcing the laws.
A case in point is legislation - introduced last year but now stalled - that would prohibit all genetic-counseling facilities, clinics, and labs from divulging the sex of the fetus. The hope is that if parents don't know "it's a girl," fewer will resort to abortion. But the proposal, which would amend a 1994 law, is opposed by medical groups. They argue that technology used to monitor fetal health - such as ultrasound scans and amniocentesis - cannot be put under such intense scrutiny.
Others, though, see another reason for the opposition: Abortion is a lucrative business that many doctors do not want to see curtailed. "Abortions are a low-risk, high-profit business. As a specialist in fetal medicine, I can tell you that no pregnant woman would suffer if the ultrasound test were banned," says Puneet Bedi, a gynecologist at Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi. "Right now, it is used to save 1 out of 20,000 fetuses and kill 20 out of every 100 because [it reveals that the baby] is the wrong gender."
India stipulates that only a government hospital, registered facility, or medical practitioner with appropriate qualifications may perform an abortion. The reality, however, is that only about 15 percent of all abortions take place under such circumstances, according to the Indian Medical Association. About 11.2 million illegal abortions are performed each year off the record. Such abortions are often "female feticide," experts say.
In Salem district, for instance, signs posted in towns reinforce the societal message: "Pay 500 rupees and save 50,000 rupees later," a suggestion that aborting a female fetus now could save a fortune in wedding expenses in the future.
Salem district, a mostly rural part of Tamil Nadu, has a longstanding reputation as a deathtrap for baby girls. The Vellala Gounder community, the dominant caste there, owns most of the land and is intent on retaining property rights within the family. Sons represent lineage; daughters marry and relocate to their husbands' homes. As a result, local women, like Lakshmi, who gave birth to a girl early last year, may refuse to nurse their newborns. They leave it to midwives or mothers-in-law to administer the oleander sap, say anti-infanticide activists.
Nearly 60 percent of girls born in Salem District are killed within three days of birth, according to the local social welfare department. That doesn't count the growing number of abortions there to ensure a girl baby won't be carried to term.
Amid such stubborn statistics, activists are at work to counter the forces of tradition. A focus of their work: improving the standing and self-image of women themselves.
Community Services Guild (CSG), a nongovernmental organization, works with rural women in particular to discourage female feticide. One of CSG's interventions targets women who already have at least one girl. Now 20 years old, the program sends workers to visit these mothers, teaching them and their daughters skills that contribute income to their families (such as basket-weaving or selling produce) and reeducating them about the value of girls to society.
"Educating the new-generation girl - and empowering her with the skills necessary for economic independence - is the only long-term solution," says G. Prasad, CSG deputy director. Though CSG works in a patriarchal culture where female inferiority is ingrained, the group encourages women to become decisionmakers.
In pockets of India where female infanticide persists, the practice is rooted in a complex mix of economic, social, and cultural factors. Parents' preference for a boy derives from the widespread belief that a son lighting his parents' funeral pyre will ensure that their souls ascend to heaven; that he will be a provider in their later years (India has no form of social security); and that he will preserve the family inheritance.
Conversely, a daughter is considered an economic burden. Pressure to conform can be intense in rural areas, and some families borrow heavily to pay for the rituals prescribed for a girl - the ear-piercing ceremony, wedding jewelry, dowry, and presents for the groom's family on every Hindu festival.
The Tamil Nadu government has started several programs to protect girls - with mixed results. One urged families to hand over their baby girls to local officials, who saw that they were adopted by childless couples. Between May 2001 and January 2003, officials received 361 baby girls. An informal survey by CSG, however, found that many women would abort rather than have a baby and give her up for adoption.
Tamil Nadu's "Girl Protection" program may be more practical. Here, the government opens a bank account in a girl's name at her birth, depositing between 15,000 and 22,000 rupees during her childhood, depending on the number of girls in the family.
"The only way to wipe out this evil is by an attitudinal shift," says CSG's Mr. Prasad. "Educate a girl beyond eighth grade and encourage her to find her voice."
What you don't value, you lose.
The Indian practice of killing little girls, before or after they're born, is horrible. And of course infanticide is still practiced when it's not prosecuted. What the heck does it mean to call something illegal when it is also unpunishable?
That's women's rights for you.
The more I look outside our American borders the less I like what I see out there.
This is so sad. Is there any relief type agency that takes these babies out of India for adoption?
Oh, I'm sorry. For a moment there I thought you were talking about our immigration policies.
It seems to me that when the shortage of girls gets bad enough, the remaining girls and their families will have the leverage to demand concessions from the families of prospective grooms.
The only way to wipe out this evil is to bring Christianity and Jesus Christ to these people.
The Hindu religion and its legalistic customs cause the death of little Indian girls.
Get rid of dowries and half your battle is solved. Get rid of the belief in reincarnation and you solve the other half.
Exactly. Aborting baby girls (or killing born girls) is based on economic considerations (per the article). Abortion in our own culture is based primarily on economic considerations.
Same difference.
We like to think we are superior because we don't single out girls.
They could always hook up with the frustrated feminists in the U.S. The latter don't shave their legs, so Indian men should find them attractive.
Your page is AWESOME
Yes, your house is a very, Very, VERY fine house!
You and your Skil should go to India and show
those ladies what a lady can do!!!
Ahhhhh thank you SO much!
A dowery? Didn't those go out in the middle ages?
Feminists fought for a world where their own gender can be slaughtered.... Gotta love it. Selfish people with small minds increase the oppression of their sisters while thinking they are improving things.
IDIOTS.
"The only way to wipe out this evil is to bring Christianity and Jesus Christ to these people.
The Hindu religion and its legalistic customs cause the death of little Indian girls.
Get rid of dowries and half your battle is solved. Get rid of the belief in reincarnation and you solve the other half."
female infanticide is not because of any religion.The major reason is illiteracy among the people and dowry is a major factor.No religion advocates dowry but somehow this practice is followed(dont know which nutcase started it)by many in india.But the literacy rate is going up and in the near future this practice will be stopped..And believe me the educated class in india does not follow this practice.
And actually dowry system is illegal and is punishable in india.(there have been cases where people asking for dowry if found guilty have been given 6 years of imprisonment).But the reason why dowry system still continues is because people dont complain and as long as people dont complain nothing can be done.
i totally agree with u regarding the eradication of dowry system.But it is for the people to understand and believe in the judiciary(by complaining against those asking for dowry).
Reincarnation has nothing to do with female infanticide.
once the dowry system stops female infanticide will stop too.
And by the way its not only the hindus but also people following other religions practice it(including christians).
Reincarnation has to do with female infancticide in that in the minds of Hindus, the soul will simply come back again in the body of someone (or something else). Hence killing a fetus/little human baby is not such a big deal since you can just recycle its soul, so to speak.
In Christianity, we believe there is one life, and it is spent once, whether killed in the womb or lived to a full 90 years. This is why life is so much more sacred to Christians than Hindus. We also have commandments not to kill, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to care for those less fortunate or weaker than ourselves.
well first of all hinduism does not ever preach killing a living soul .Yes,hindus do believe in reincarnation but that's not the major reason for female infanticide.
In India,dowry is the major problem.We have a lot of poor people in our country who just cant afford to pay it.Hence to avoid this hassle they prefer killing their little babies .This is very unfortunate but true.
Reincarnation to some extent may be true but till now whatever i have heard of,Dowry is the root cause .
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