Female foetuses are selectively aborted after pre-natal sex determination, thus avoiding the birth of girls. As a result of selective abortion 35 to 40 million girls are missing in Indian population. The effect has been more pronounced in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. It was in these states that private foetal sex determination clinics were first established and the practice of selective abortion becomes popular from late 1970s. Data
Latest census shows a decline In sex ratio from 927/1000 to 914/1000. 527/1000 (0-6) age group in fatehgarh sahib region of Punjab, 300/1000 in upper-class Hindu Brahmins in urban regions of Punjab.
Consequences : 1) Less no of females as compared to males in population. So, there will some unmarried young men. This can result in abduction of females. Recently, Hindustan times reported that young girls from Assam and WB are kidnapped and sold in states like Haryana, Punjab where sex ratio is very less relative to other states. 2) According to Chinese estimates, by 2020 there will be 40 million unmarried young males. This huge imbalance can also lead to increase in sex crimes. For e.g. sharp rise in sex crimes in Delhi have been attributed to the unequal sex ratio.
Factors behind it :
Initially, the general belief was lack of education and poor economic conditions in rural areas lead to female foeticide. To some extent this belief was true, but we can see the cases for female foeticide are increasing in urban cities also where lack of education and poor economic conditions can’t be the actual reasons. In many urban areas, there still prevails a notion of men’s authority over women. The can be attributed to the fact that the average female to male ratio is 914/1000 for urban population. Still if we look at the higher education i.e. at graduation level or PG level the sex ratio is not 9/10. This means there are still some pre-conceived notions in the society, some partiality among the male and the female child. Still, girl child is considered a debt on the father.
The most probable driving force behind such low sex ratios in cities can be the easy access to private sex determination clinics that were established In 1970s. Such clinics are still active in society. Ultrasound scanning machines and medical malpractice in this area is flourishing.
Prevention of female foeticide (Laws related to it) 1) Prohibition of sex selection act 1994 : restricts the use of sex determination techniques like ultrasound to specific purpose(causing health issue to the mother), by a qualified person registered for using these instruments. 2) Prohibition of advertising the techniques for sex selection. 3) Prohibition of sale of ultrasound machines to persons not registered under this act.
Conclusion:
It’s high time to change the attitude and mindset of the society towards the girl child and considering it equal to boy child, only then we can expect for a balanced and prosperous future.
This is a gradual process and it needs the support of the stricter implementation of the laws made by Indian govt to protect female foeticides.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Six decades after the country's independence, and during the 21st century Female foeticide still continues in India. Women constitute half of the population in India, meaning half of the population has been deprived of its self-respect and subjugated into its grim existence. Infant mortality in India remains higher than that of males. The percentage of girls enrolled in schools is 49% compared to 73% of boys, and the percentage of employed women has dropped from 71% to 41%. Crimes against women have also increased. More than 4,000 cases of rape were reported per year, approximately fourteen rape crimes a day, which is equivalent to one or two rape crimes every hour. Females are usually looked down on by their parents, some might even kill their own daughter or continue to reproduce until one of them is male.…
- 549 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The majority of parents claim to select gender solely for the reason of sex linked illnesses. Although this might be true in some countries, others are abusing this knowledge to select gender for non-medical reasons. For instance, in countries such as China, where men carry the ancestral line, the families prefer boys instead of girls. Girl fetuses are often aborted after finding out the sex through an ultra sound. Yet, with the newer technology of IVF and PGD, it permits an easier way of gender selection. After PGD, the desired gender embryo is implanted in the woman’s uterus (Gender). However, by not even giving female embryos a chance, it is promoting sex discrimination and cultivating a gender imbalanced society. In China, there are approximately 62 million “missing” women and girls due to sex selective procedures (Hvistendahl). As the population of the female decreases the male population skyrockets. This all results in kidnapping and female trafficking, who are later sold as brides to men (Gender). Dr. Nisker, a PGD pioneer, presumed that sex selection or PGD would be used mostly by infertile couples. He states, “Fifty-eight percent of the calls were from fertile couples. I never thought for one minute this would be used by fertile couples”. Unlike what he had thought, he found the facts to be shocking (Gonda). The practice of gender selection for nonmedical purposes is unethical…
- 1924 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
A main part of the decline can be explained in terms of women simply choosing to have fewer children. As the position of women in society has changed overtime, they have chosen to delay childbearing and to limit the number of children they are having because of several factors. Women now have equality with men because of the Equality Act 2010 as well as receiving increased educational and employment opportunities. Other ways in which women’s position has changed is that there is now easier access to divorce, contraception and abortion meaning that they can avoid unwanted pregnancy so have full choice over when they have a child. Beck and Back-Gernsheim(1995) said that the changes in the birth and fertility rate are due to individualisation meaning that people have more choice to follow their own norms and values as well as making their own decisions, rather the following what society deems acceptable. Also the falling infant mortality rate (number of children dying before their first birthday per thousand of live births) has fallen dramatically as a result of factors such as better living standards, improved hygiene and sanitation, improvements to healthcare and the developments made to the welfare state. Geographers explain that these circumstances lead to a demographic revolution in which birth and fertility fall because women no longer feel they need to have a large number of children to protect against the risk of infant mortality.…
- 977 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
In conclusion, this issue is bigger and bigger in China; therefore, few years later many men cannot marry because of imbalance of gender problem. And also, most families have only one child in their family so that many kids are spoiled in China.…
- 402 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
For societies, usually in backward regions, where patriarchy still prevails and ‘female foeticide’ plagues, parents are evidently ‘controlled’ by societal and cultural influences. They may appear to be unable to make wise decision with regard to the welfare or survival of their child, especially girls. Selective abortion for gender preference is illegal in India, but the low proportion of female births…
- 622 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
According to the author, there are two main reasons why sexual disparity is widespread. First of all, the marked cultural preference for sons are significant, although not in all traditional societies. In some 'old-fashioned' societies, where the girl is deemed to join her husband’s family on marriage and lost to her parents, parents prefer to have male children, to guarantee care in their older years. The sexual disparities also tend to rise with income and education. It seems to be the case, in parts of India, that richer, and well educated families, tend to have smaller families. However, they feel more pressured to bear a son to whom the family name and wealth can be carried on through. Secondly, the spread of fetal-imaging technology and significant drop of ultrasound scan cost encourage the use of sex selection abortions. Although this type of abortion is lawfully banned, it is almost impossible to prove that an abortion has been carried out for reasons of sex selection. Therefore, there is no effective regulations to stop this behaviour.…
- 519 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
The article “Gendercide: The War on Baby Girls Winds Down” by The Economist iterates how past trends in sex-selective fertility have recently changed to produce a more equal sex ratio at birth in countries including South Korea, China, Pakistan, Vietnam, and South Caucasus due to ideological changes (Gendercide: The war on baby girls winds down, 2017). Even though these changes are leading to a more natural sex ratio, decades of sex-selective fertility have lasting impacts on population aging and structure.…
- 552 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Gender imbalance is another social problem in China. Reports state that there will be 30 million more marriageable men than woman within 10 years in China. This significant imbalance is also said to be due to the country’s “one child” policy. Couple the previous fact with the number of low income men or men of little education and the result is sure to pose a serious social problem such as increased human trafficking or forced prostitution.…
- 413 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The Indian culture suffers greatly from this problem and has even more hardship than the American women. “A Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll last year ranked India as the world’s fourth most dangerous country for a women,” (Challenges of being a women in India 1). This indicates how women are being treated in this culture. They are being treated with disrespect and as they are unable to live up to the status of a man. As one of the most dangerous countries for women, many problems occur. For example, “Even though the practice is outlawed, 300,000 to 600,000 female fetuses are aborted every year in India because of the preference for boys,” (Challenges of Being a Women in India 1). Again this indicates to inequality among genders. These people are forcefully aborting these female fetuses just because they are female. The favoritism for men is harming the wellbeing of women. The gender should not matter. They are both humans, they are both of the same species. This problem between the genders is extreme and action needs to be taken. The problem lies within the power who makes the decisions of the country of…
- 652 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Despite the clear prohibitions against child-murder by all major religions, female infanticide has been for centuries a prominent and socially acceptable event, notably in one of the most populous countries in this world, India. Even today, the extent of the problem is measured in alarming proportions all around the globe: "at least 60 million females in Asia are missing and feared dead, victims of nothing more than their sex. Worldwide, research suggests, the number of missing females may top 100 million." The data is more astounding in India. According to the Census Report of 2001, for every 1000 males the number of females has decreased to 927 in 2001 from 945 in 1991 and continues to decrease. It is clear that the burdensome costs involved with the raising of a girl, eventually providing her an appropriate marriage dowry, was the single most important factor in allowing social acceptance of the murder at birth in India. Nonetheless, in addition to the dowry system, the reasons for this increasing trend have also been attributed to the patriarchal society, poverty and the availability of sex-selective abortion.…
- 2022 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The implications of gendercide are multiple. One of the implications is that there is a major sex ratio difference. In China specifically, there is a surplus of bachelors, which causes issues including human trafficking and bride-abduction. There used to be a stable ratio of boys born to girls, which was between 103-106 boys to every 100 girls. Now, those numbers have changed, which is only possible through human intervention. Thinking of gendercide, most tend to immediately look at China’s one-child only policy, but it is common in other countries as well, including India where like China, it is an issue containing large regional disparities. Polls show that there is still a large “son preference” in…
- 840 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Especially in rural areas, where much of the economy is subsistence farming, baby boys were more desirable resulting in female infanticide and baby girls ‘disappearing’.…
- 587 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the southern Chinese city of Foshan, a baby --still fighting for life, was taken from his parents by hospital nurses, declared “unable to survive”, stuffed into a plastic bag and left for dead in the corner of a toilet cubicle.In India, nearly a million baby girls are aborted each year. In fact, it’s not just an Asian phenomenon — female foeticide’ In other words, gendercide, is taking place worldwide.…
- 301 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Trend: The higher the female literacy rate, the higher the education level of women. The higher the education level of women, the higher the cost of raising a child. The higher the cost of raising a child, the lower the number of children are raised. Hence the higher the female literacy rate, the lower the fertility rate.…
- 402 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
The news article selected for the ethical analysis is based on the ‘One Child Policy of China’; many ethical issues arise from this article and topic in general. The ethical issue that has been chosen for analysis is whether or not sex-selective abortions are ethical for families to have a desired sex of a child in China. Although the ethical issues behind abortion in general is very large, this analysis will focus on the issues solely behind sex selective abortions in China. Sex selective abortion is the act of terminating a pregnancy due to an unwanted sex of the foetus, as determined by the parents [ (Goodkind, 1999) ]. The importance behind this issue is the impact it is having on the Chinese population demographics, and the discrimination between the sexes of unborn babies. In 2010 for every 100 females born, 118 males were born causing a large imbalance of the sex ratio in China [ (Ravi, 2011) ].…
- 1881 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays