found that boys were taken to the hospital twice as often.
A government doctor in Punjab summed up attitudes that are still common in a report in 1983 11 ‘Female Infanticide and Child Neglect in Rural North India’, Barbara Miller, 1987 : “In one village, I went into the house to examine a young girl and I found that she had an advanced case of tuberculosis. I asked the mother why she hadn’t done something sooner about the girl’s condition because now, at this stage, the treatment would be very expensive. The mother replied, ‘then let her die. I have another daughter.’ At the time, the two daughters sat nearby listening, one with tears streaming down her face.”
These attitudes are not limited to India and do not seem to be dying out. At a rally in San Francisco in September 2012 to highlight India’s missing girls, Goldie Pabla, a young Sikh American, told a crowd in tears that she felt unwanted when she was growing up in the United States. “I grew up thinking I was a burden to my family. My father often said, ‘if I had a boy first, I would have had no more children’.”
There is a common perception that as India becomes more economically developed, this bias against women will ease. Unfortunately this may be a case of wishful thinking. In many cases sex-selection is more prevalent where families are better off. Whereas poorer households might be less able to afford to determine the sex of their unborn child or have an abortion, well-off families would have easier access to these services. Plus, well-off families are usually smaller in size and therefore mothers are under greater pressure to produce a son and heir.
A report by Action Aid in 2009 12 ‘Disappearing Daughters’ Action Aid, 2009 found that in some areas of the relatively prosperous state of Punjab, there were only 300 girls for every 1000 boys among upper-caste families.
Renu, a 25 year-old married woman from an educated and affluent family in Haryana state, told Action Aid: “When I got pregnant the second time, I told my husband that if I am pregnant with a girl, I would abort it. I got my ultrasound done and they told me my baby was a girl. I paid 500 rupees [around $15, £10] for another ultrasound to make absolutely sure. When it was confirmed I spent 3,000 rupees [$90, £60] for an abortion.”
She added: “My husband and I fought over my desire to have an abortion. I told him that this society does not value girls and I do not want to give birth to another one. When I gave birth to my first daughter everyone pitied me. They all told me that I could not have a son. The taunts from society and from my in-laws that I would have faced for not having a son forced me to abort. Knowing the amount of harassment my baby would go through after her birth, I think it is much better to die.”
1 Rs 5000 in 1991 is roughly Rs 25,000 in 2013 prices ($465, £300)
2 Rs 70 in 1991 is roughly Rs 350 in 2013 prices ($6.50, £4); Rs 500 is roughly Rs 2,500 now ($46.50, £30)
3 Translation: ‘truth always triumphs’. It is also India’s official motto, inscribed below the national emblem.
4 Figures from 2012 CIA World Factbook, relating to overall sex ratio of the population.
5 Vijayendra Rao: The Rising Price of Husbands, 1993
6 Vijayendra Rao, World Bank: The Economics of Dowries in India, 2006
7 ‘India’s New Focus on Rape Shows Only the Surface of Women’s Perils’ - New York Times, Jan 2013
8 ‘Indian brides pay a high price’ - International Herald Tribune, Oct 2006
9 Indian Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, 2010.
10 ‘Sourcebook on Violence Against Women’ (pg 111) 2001
11 ‘Female Infanticide and Child Neglect in Rural North India’, Barbara Miller, 1987
12 ‘Disappearing Daughters’ Action Aid, 2009
3.
Lord Ram spoke to his wife in front of the court:
O Sita, you are the embodiment of tolerance and forbearance. Moreover, you represent purity at its highest. But you have lived under the
A government doctor in Punjab summed up attitudes that are still common in a report in 1983 11 ‘Female Infanticide and Child Neglect in Rural North India’, Barbara Miller, 1987 : “In one village, I went into the house to examine a young girl and I found that she had an advanced case of tuberculosis. I asked the mother why she hadn’t done something sooner about the girl’s condition because now, at this stage, the treatment would be very expensive. The mother replied, ‘then let her die. I have another daughter.’ At the time, the two daughters sat nearby listening, one with tears streaming down her face.”
These attitudes are not limited to India and do not seem to be dying out. At a rally in San Francisco in September 2012 to highlight India’s missing girls, Goldie Pabla, a young Sikh American, told a crowd in tears that she felt unwanted when she was growing up in the United States. “I grew up thinking I was a burden to my family. My father often said, ‘if I had a boy first, I would have had no more children’.”
There is a common perception that as India becomes more economically developed, this bias against women will ease. Unfortunately this may be a case of wishful thinking. In many cases sex-selection is more prevalent where families are better off. Whereas poorer households might be less able to afford to determine the sex of their unborn child or have an abortion, well-off families would have easier access to these services. Plus, well-off families are usually smaller in size and therefore mothers are under greater pressure to produce a son and heir.
A report by Action Aid in 2009 12 ‘Disappearing Daughters’ Action Aid, 2009 found that in some areas of the relatively prosperous state of Punjab, there were only 300 girls for every 1000 boys among upper-caste families.
Renu, a 25 year-old married woman from an educated and affluent family in Haryana state, told Action Aid: “When I got pregnant the second time, I told my husband that if I am pregnant with a girl, I would abort it. I got my ultrasound done and they told me my baby was a girl. I paid 500 rupees [around $15, £10] for another ultrasound to make absolutely sure. When it was confirmed I spent 3,000 rupees [$90, £60] for an abortion.”
She added: “My husband and I fought over my desire to have an abortion. I told him that this society does not value girls and I do not want to give birth to another one. When I gave birth to my first daughter everyone pitied me. They all told me that I could not have a son. The taunts from society and from my in-laws that I would have faced for not having a son forced me to abort. Knowing the amount of harassment my baby would go through after her birth, I think it is much better to die.”
1 Rs 5000 in 1991 is roughly Rs 25,000 in 2013 prices ($465, £300)
2 Rs 70 in 1991 is roughly Rs 350 in 2013 prices ($6.50, £4); Rs 500 is roughly Rs 2,500 now ($46.50, £30)
3 Translation: ‘truth always triumphs’. It is also India’s official motto, inscribed below the national emblem.
4 Figures from 2012 CIA World Factbook, relating to overall sex ratio of the population.
5 Vijayendra Rao: The Rising Price of Husbands, 1993
6 Vijayendra Rao, World Bank: The Economics of Dowries in India, 2006
7 ‘India’s New Focus on Rape Shows Only the Surface of Women’s Perils’ - New York Times, Jan 2013
8 ‘Indian brides pay a high price’ - International Herald Tribune, Oct 2006
9 Indian Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, 2010.
10 ‘Sourcebook on Violence Against Women’ (pg 111) 2001
11 ‘Female Infanticide and Child Neglect in Rural North India’, Barbara Miller, 1987
12 ‘Disappearing Daughters’ Action Aid, 2009
3.
Lord Ram spoke to his wife in front of the court:
O Sita, you are the embodiment of tolerance and forbearance. Moreover, you represent purity at its highest. But you have lived under the
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