According to a recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) up to 50 million girls and women are missing from India' s population as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India. In most countries in the world, there are approximately 105 female births for every 100 males. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men in the population. The accepted reason for such a disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, prompted by the existence of a dowry system which requires the family to pay out a great deal of money when a female child is married. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of financial ruin and extreme hardship.
However this anti-female bias is by no means limited to poor families. Much of the discrimination is to do with cultural beliefs and social norms. These norms themselves must be challenged if this practice is to stop.
Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catchlines such as spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later.
The implication is that by avoiding a girl, a family will avoid paying a large dowry on the marriage of her daughter. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting worse as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of performing abortions are improving.
These methods are becoming increasing available in rural areas of India, fuelling fears that the trend towards the abortion of female foetuses is on the increase
RE:INFANTICIDE
by Anand Iyer on May 17, 2007 11:38 AM Permalink
Dear Ibrahim, please show me any Hindu scripture in which female foeticide has been permitted. Thie Hindu scriptures only ask hindus to beget a son so that his family line can be continued. No hindu scripture ever sacnctions female foeticide.In fact, amrrying off a daughter is said to confer merits(punya) of performing big Yagnyas.
This female foeticide is clearly a recent phenomenon. Without modern technology, it is impossible to know whether foetus is male of female. Such technology was unavailable in ancient times. So, this is abuse of modern technology. The motivation is clearly economic-as u yourself point out."The implication is that by avoiding a girl, a family will avoid paying a large dowry on the marriage of her daughter". There r hindu and even muslim families who have restricted themseves to ine daughter only and did not go in for a scond child.
It is a societal evil having nothing to do with religion.
