Posted on 12/30/2006 6:58:57 PM PST by pinkpanther111
Lawmakers and women's rights activists raised an alarm Monday over new evidence indicating about 7,000 fewer girls than expected are born each day in India, where women routinely suffer discrimination and parents often abort female fetuses.
The spread of ultrasound technology allowing parents to find out the gender of their unborn children has resulted in the large-scale 'disappearance' of girls here. One study released earlier this year estimated that 10 million fewer girls were born here than expected in the past 20 years.
The government must 'rise in revolt against the male child mania,' said lawmaker Gurudas Dasgupta during a parliamentary debate Monday.
The debate was spurred in part by a report last week from UNICEF, which estimated that 7,000 girls go unborn each day in India, where abortions are legal and a ban on finding out the sex of unborn children and aborting female fetuses is widely flouted.
The result is a skewed gender ratio - many districts in the country of more than 1 billion people routinely report only 800 females born for every 1,000 males.
According to the latest census figures in India, the number of girls per 1,000 boys declined from 945 to 927 between 1991 and 2001.
In China, where there is a similar preference for male offspring, official figures show 117 boys are born in China for every 100 girls, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
China bans the use of ultrasound or other means to determine the sex of a fetus, but doctors who do so usually face only administrative penalties, not criminal charges. The situation in India is driving activists to demand the government declare a 'national emergency' and take tough measures to enforce existing laws.
'It is truly a state of emergency and the government has to act,' said women's rights activist Ranjana Kumari.
UNICEF's report included dire warnings about the social fallout from the skewed gender ratio - girls getting married at younger ages, dropping out of school and dying earlier after being forced bear children when they are too young. It could also result in more violence against girls and women, UNICEF said.
The government says it is clamping down on doctors who tell parents the sex of their unborn children and abort female fetuses. But in more than a decade, only one such doctor has been convicted, and some senior officials acknowledge tougher action is needed.
'Female feticide should be treated as a crime and not just a social evil, therefore stringent punishment and punitive action is required,' said Renuka Choudhury, India's women and child development minister.
Indian families traditionally have preferred boys, partly because of the widespread Hindu religious belief that only a son could perform the last rites when his father dies. In addition, girls are seen as a burden on the family, requiring a huge dowry that many families cannot afford. They are generally the last to be educated or get medical treatment when ill.
Choudhury said the government was planning to offer incentives to village councils that worked to change such discriminatory attitudes.
But as India's ponderous bureaucracy cranks up for a nationwide awareness campaign, non-governmental organizations, student groups and civil society organizations have already taken up the task to publicly explain the urgency of the issue.
In recent weeks, hundreds of students, both men and women, have held demonstrations and candlelight vigils in many cities to create awareness.
'It's a message we hope to take to the people - invest in girls, realize their value, help them realize their potential, let them live,' Kumari said.
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>And this doesn't count what they do to the girls if they are born:
>bride burnings
>abandonment
>female genital mutilation
>I'm not sure it is better to be born in India than it is to be aborted there.
I doubted your claim so I looked it up:
% of female genital mutilation/cutting among women aged 15-49,total (1999-2001), India: ~0%
IPU; India- Current status: Female genital mutilation is not prevalent in India.
--
Score yourself a -1 for spreading falsehoods about people different than yourself. Now I didn't mean to interrupt you; I think you were about to tell us about how they force women in India to wear burkhas and sacrifice humans on every feast of Shurik....
I believe you are absolutely correct. The scarce female won't be the one in control--she will be the prize.
Romanticism would claim that scarcity of women puts them in control. No. That's a fantasy. Women are much better off when there are more women than men.
The women of China and India don't understand this. They're not thinking of the long-term good of their nations. They're thinking of the short-term gains of their individual families.
I just finished watching the video "Water." It takes place in 1938 India and is about an eight year old girl who is widowed and must live out her days abandoned to live as an Aesthetic at an Ashram. Apparently, traditional Hindu beliefs consider the wife to be half of her husband's body. When he died, she was treated as a living corpse. Shades of that still exist today, although women are now permitted by law (if not tradition, to remarry.
Makes me very appreciative to live in the United States.
Vietnamese Women Are Kidnapped And Later Sold in China
China, Mongolia: Kidnapped Wives
Female genital mutilation is prevalent all through the Near East, Middle East and Far East. Various immigrants have brought it to the United States and Canada.
While it may not be condoned in the Hindu communities,it is also not officially condoned in moslem communities.
It's not about what is OFFICIALLY condoned - it's about what happens in reality.
Bride burnings are against the law - not officially condoned - but they happen.
Abandoning female infants is not officially condoned, but it happens.
Aborting female infants is actually against Indian law - but it surely happens.
While Indian women might not wear burquas - purdah nd multiple marriage is certainly part of India's history.
Calling me names won't change the reality.
Pressuring widows to die upon the funeral pyre of her husband was also an Indian custom that was finally outlawed - but only by the pressure of the British Raj.
Until you are willing to understand and acknowledge what is happening - it will never change.
You can feel free to assail me as much as you want - but calling me names won't change the reality.
The facts are the facts - entire societies have enslaved, murdered and mutilated females for centuries.
Barney better take advantage of it now, then. 'Cause in my opinion, it's as close as he is going to come.
According to my Japanese wife, the more aroused a woman is during the act of conception, the greater the likelyhood the child will be a boy...
I have two sons ;-)
If they institute strong social security systems, mothers will stop aborting girls.
Baloney. Saying it is so doesn't make it so. UNICEF monitors and keeps statistics on these things. From their own studies it shows that FMG/C (female genital mutilation and cutting) is primarily practiced in African countries a few Middle Eastern countries and some Southest Asian countries. It is not shown as prevalent in the far east or near east.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTINGA STATISTICAL EXPLORATION
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a traditional practice with severe health consequences for girls and women. It occurs mainly in countries along a belt stretching from Senegal in West Africa to Somalia in East Africa and to Yemen in the Middle East, but it is also practised in some parts of South-East Asia. Reports from Europe, North America and Australia indicate that it is practised among immigrant communities as well.
In addition it is not confined to Muslim communities as some others have claimed.
ReligionWhile religion can help explain FGM/C distribution in many countries, the relationship is not consistent. In six of the countries where data on religion are available – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal – Muslim population groups are more likely to practise FGM/C than Christian groups (see Figure 10, page 11). In fi ve countries there seems to be no signifi cant differences, while in Niger, Nigeria and the United Republic of Tanzania the prevalence is greater among Christian groups.
You are definitely blowing smoke about something you know nothing about and were apparently too lazy to spend five minutes researching.
From the Inter-Parliamentary Union website...
PARLIAMENTARY CAMPAIGN "STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN": FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATIONINDIA
Current status: Female genital mutilation is not prevalent in India.
Legislation: India has not adopted any law on the subject.
Operational structure: not applicable.
Your post above just supported fully what I wrote.
If you read my posts carefully you will see that you have in fact corroborated what I said. Instead of just reacting emotionally read my posts carefully.
Calling me names will not still my voice.
So....call away....
Where's the outrage by our esteemed feminists at this genocide?
Your emotions must have clouded your judment on that. I didn't call you any names. Such blatant false claims will give your voice less import of their own accord than anything anyone will say to or about you.
My post refutes your hyperbolic claims completely. Outside of Africa FGM/C is rare and mostly associated with immigrants from those very African nations where it isn't.
The facts do speak for themselves and on FR when you make a highly charged claim you will find that you will be called to back it up with supporting evidence. You have offered nothing other than "I say it's so" rhetoric. That and your false accusation
The most telling statement that I linked to was "INDIA Current status: Female genital mutilation is not prevalent in India."
You should feel free to bring some evidence to counter mine or equally free to continue to spew empty rhetoric and false accusations. I can't stop you and wouldn't dream of trying. You look quite lovely on your own petard.
Actually, I have done research on this horrific problem - read books, looked at laws, consulted the librrary for quite a number of years. My information does not come from the internet or emotional output. Your assumption that I have no information to back up my statements - is without foundation. It is your assumption and that colors your view.
Well, good for you! At least that's a start.
I make it a point to never attack the poster only present my view without atttacking the other's view.
You might consider that. It would certainly add to the luster of your "research."
Again I say - and will continue to say that the problem is swept under the rug - or radar - which is typical of those who have no wish to really see it for what it is. This is true of many "official" documents on file. Countries don't like to admit to the problem.
People don't like to admit that it happens in "their" country - or their society or their culture and will anything to say it isn't so.
It is a practice in Africa. It has spread from Africa, but it is also practiced in other countries outside of Africa, in the Middle East, and Far East. It has also been brought to the USA and Canada.
It is not legal anywhere, of which I am aware - but nevertheless it does happen. Some countries don't even have a law against it, because then that would be admitting it happens in that country. Statistics are bendable and countries put out statistics to "prove" it doesn't happen there. But reality says otherwise. It's like slavery - we know that exists in the Middle East - yet every country denies it.
It is not condoned by any specific religion - it is not considered a religious rite - but rather a traditional act.
First comes recognition of the problem, then perhaps will come a solution. But to deny recognition is to disallow a solution.
The last word is yours......excoriate away....it's ok - I'm an old lady - I can handle it.
But I can't handle someone who catagorically denies the problem exists for any particular country at all. That's not real.
Post away - enjoy.......
I didn't assume that you have no sources. I said that you didn't cite any sources. And so far you have not cited a single source.
I make it a point to never attack the poster only present my view without atttacking the other's view.
That is very nice. You should be honest enough then to admit that I did not attack you personally although I did attack your assertions. Your view. That is called debate and if your view has any merit or substance it should be able to withstand a minimal amount of scrutiny.
The last word is yours......excoriate away....it's ok - I'm an old lady - I can handle it.
Are you sure? I have said nothing excoriating to you yet. I rebutted the broad-brush statement that you made provided sourced evidence to back me up and noted that you have given no source for your info/POV. That is hardly emotional and certainly not personal.
I didn't say that so you must be referring to someone else. I did show a relatively reliable source that says it is not prevalent in India. Almost all phenomena of human behavior occur whereever humans live. When it is statistically insignificant in a given place it is quite disingenuous to ascribe that behavior to that culture as inherent to it as you have done to India and Asia. You have said that it exists in Canada and the U.S.A. but you didn't say anything like "I'm not sure it is better to be born in India than it is to be aborted there." about those countries. I won't even get into the fact that your statement suggests that death is preferable to life.
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