F for Female Foeticide

Posted on by Parul Thakur
Picture Credits : Change India Initiative
Picture Credits : Change India Initiative

In a country where Maa Durga and Maa Saraswati are worshiped and where brave soldiers sacrifice their lives protecting their (mother)land, it’s hard to understand the rationale behind female foeticide. Yes, the plain blunt answer is Patriarchy but my question is why? Why do we forget that if there was no woman, there would be no womb? Killing a girl even before she was born and killing her just because she was a girl is inhuman and defeats the very basis of our existence.

Though female foeticide is rampant in other parts of the world, I am really worried about India. Female foetuses have been found dumped in rivers wrapped in black polythene bags and in a horrible incident reported in 2011 in Maharashtra, she was also fed to dogs. We are talking of a majority section of society that thinks a son is an asset and a daughter is a liability. He is an asset because the male child will grow up to take care of the parents, feed them and look after them when they age. She is a liability because she will have to be married and as soon as she is born, parents will have to start saving for dowry. The population, the poverty, the need to feed the family and on top of it dowry. Adding to that, a male child will take forward the lineage. So, what if the liability wasn’t even born?

Science is so amazing and now there is ultrasound that can help determine sex of a 12-14 weeks old foetus with close to 100% accuracy. While my friends in US, happily announce it’s a girl months before she is born, the laws in India prohibit sex determination and this law was brought into existence to prevent female foeticide. Was it helpful? No, not at all. Illegal sex determination and selective abortion is a 1000 crore industry in India and you know it’s all about connecting the dots.

Here is the thing. We don’t need just stringent laws. We also need laws against corruption, malpractice and of course a big change in mindset. We need education. We need to understand that investing for girl child has to be for her education and not for her marriage. When she grows up, she can buy gold for herself but put her in a better school and encourage her to be independent. And remember that we don’t need to just educate the uneducated but also those who are educated. We need change. We need us.

It’s hard for me to refer to a female foetus as “it” and hence I’m using the pronoun “she”. If some details are too gory for you to read, it is even hard for me to choose words and write all this on a blog that I call happinessandfood.

I am blogging from A to Z during April (#47o on the list) and the theme I have chosen is set on women. Some of the posts will be here for you to know and some will be to reflect and accept. Share your thoughts and let me know how things are going. There is always a room for improvement. 

71 thoughts on “F for Female Foeticide”

  1. Heartbreaking, and I’m surprised they haven’t seen more statistics on how female foeticide has impacted modern day China. I’ve seen multiple stories on how the one-child policies of the eighties have skewed population demographics as that generation has grown to adulthood.

    But it is more than a legal change, a cultural shift to value the female does need to be made. And sadly, as we still see here in the US today, women still are not valued as they should be.

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  3. It’s mind-boggling how cultures have evolved to this. Or is this mild compared to what used to be. in any case, the world will not know peace until women have rights. Everywhere. It’s a fact. Thanks for standing on this side. Peace.

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    1. Cindy – I think things are mild now but in pockets this is a still big thing. Very subtly people do share their wish for a male child but they have no choice than to show they are happy when a girl child is born.

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  5. Yes, I gasped when I read this, “Female foetuses have been found dumped in rivers wrapped in black polythene bags and in a horrible incident reported in 2011 in Maharashtra, she was also fed to dogs.” That is indeed horrific! Is it possible they get rid of the dowry, would that help?

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  7. This is truly horrifying! Such disgusting practices must be stopped! Have any of these evil doers considered the fact that it is only females who can give birth? Are they planning to wipe out the human race??! How about working on eliminating such archaic practices as treating women like chattel? Dowries? Seriously? In the 21st Century? Educated women can look after their families as well as any man.

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  8. While all these gory things happen around us there are some expecting parents who pray to be blessed by a girl child and are often not so lucky. Ask parents of bratty boys like mine 😉

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  9. That is so sad to hear about… I knew it was common in China, but not in India. Of course China is already seeing the problem with this sort of selecting birthing, when men out-populating women 4:1. In a culture where marriage is almost a requirement, this obviously poses a problem, and I’ve actually heard now in some articles that having a girl is considered a blessing because she will be “in high demand”…. which causes another problem all on its own. Of course, the real problem is the very framework a woman is viewed under: that is, property. That needs to change.

    Alex Hurst, A Fantasy Author in Kyoto
    A-Z Blogging in April Participant

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  10. Wow. I didn’t realize this practice still occurred. We Americans take a great deal for granted. Is your point of view considered radical? Is it common among the younger generation?

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  11. Well your intention is at the right place and so is the issue you have taken up but I cringe at the first line, because this deification of women is also dehumanising and is no way working towards their favour. Girls need not be goddesses or witches just equal humans.
    Well written.

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  12. And we are a God fearing society. We celebrate 9 days of navratri twice in a year doing kanya pujan in it but we do not let our daughters to be born and can be inhuman enough to feed aborted female foetuses to the dogs. Which black hole are we heading into? :-[

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  13. This is one of the thing that disgusts me! Who says a girl cant take care of her parents once she is married off? She can and she will! I have seen many instances of it. But sadly, the idea of linage and moksha if a son lights the pyre, has been deeply ingrained in the minds of people that it is hard to make them see reason!

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  14. The opening line- Bang on! That’s exactly how I react every single time I hear of this! This is ridiculous and I realy don’t see any reason behind this! Sigh! Brilliant post again!

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  17. Your footnote captured what I wanted to say, Parul. Some of it was so difficult to read that I had tears in my eyes. TO think that people can actually stoop to this level of indecency is unimaginable. I am proud of you, my friend, for bringing these stories to the forefront. ❤

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  18. It’s horrible. How can anyone think that a girl child is a liability? Girl babies are blessings. And you said it right, provide them education, make them independent and they’ll soar high like a bird. I think most of the problems come because of Patriarchy and how I wish that I could change how a girl is thought to be a burden and parents want to wash their hands off after they get their daughter married. Such a moving post, I hope that day comes when girls and boys are given equal opportunities.

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  20. If only the world actually understood the value of a Woman. 😦 … How can a girl be a burden to anyone. They are just the most beautiful blessing a family could ever ask for.

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  22. More than the law I feel it’s the people who need to change. Without a change in mentality I don’t think laws would help. It makes me sick to even think someone doing this to their own child.

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  23. Spot on Parul — education is the key. I hope we are able to see the day when girls are valued just as much as boys. I watched the documentary ‘India’s Daughter’ yesterday and the comments by the two defense lawyers was appalling. These are supposedly educated men but their mindset is as uneducated and regressive as you can get.

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    1. Thanks S! When I watched that documentary, I had the same thoughts. Do you remember one lawyer said he would douse his daughter with kerosene and burn her if she into pre-marital sex? That’s how they think and that’s the problem – how to educate the educated?

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  25. A lot needs to be done in terms of changing the mindset of people especially in India, women are not respected; and they are treated like second class citizens; some women are harassed for having given birth to female babies, and women are held responsible for determining the sex of the child. Its a sad state of affair, a need for awareness on a massive scale is required to bring in change … education is the key for women themselves, who give away the power to be abused and misused…

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  28. A very nail biting topic . People say they don’t differentiate between male and female child but actually they do . I strongly believe that only women can erase this wide gap .I never fast for my son and husband . For me daughter and wife are respectively equal . And you know who made me to understand this ? —- my husband .

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  29. In spite of so much awareness still incidents of female foeticide are on rise.
    And the sad part is it is prevalent even in educated families.
    People need to come out of the shell and view things with a broad horizon.

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  31. In-spite of knowing this very well, it was heartbreaking to read. Like you said, this is extremely prevalent in educated upper middle class families too. When I had a boy, this is what a lot of my distant relatives told me : “Oh thank god, you got a boy. Your husband is the only son in his family. This way the family lineage will continue. I even fasted and prayed that you get a son.” To say that I was annoyed and aggravated, would be putting it mildly.
    Then there are subtle biases too. I addressed one such in one of my posts a while back. Do check it out when you get the time. *Do not treat your daughter like your son*

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  32. Dropping for the first time from a-to-z challenge and I must say that you have an amazing blog (design parse, yet to read all the articles)

    This one is thought provoking. I am not sure why some people are so obsessed about having a boy child, some claim that he would take forward the family name(I mean ‘Vansh’); but they forget the logic that Vansh doesn’t matter if your son or even daugter are good for nothing. We are not running an empire that we need King after kings……and as if empires hadn’t been run by Queens before.

    But I believe trend is changing, I am seeing baby girls being born and my relatives & friends have been so happy & proud to see girl child.

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  34. You know I read in a recent article that the chromosome found in men’s sperm required for fertilization is reducing every few million years and will eventually cease to exist one day. But even so that won’t stop women from having kids since science has found ways for women to self-reproduce. I think I know who will have the last laugh then 😀 Beautiful post !

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  35. When I look at the skewed gender ratio in some states in India, all I can do is shake my head in despair. I find myself wondering — do all these people who are killing off their female foetuses purely because of their gender realise that this is the gender that has to carry on the human race? I think once they eliminate all women and realise that men cannot actually procreate, only then will they realise their mistake! And it’ll be too late.

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  36. A couple of years ago, when a friend, the eldest bahu in the family, delivered her first child,a baby girl, all the relatives who were there at the hospital actually mourned the baby’s arrival, made life miserable for my friend and for a year, didnt celebrate any special day (festivals) for the child. It was only after the second year, things improved. Seeing such discrimination from close quarters was shocking!

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