International Day of the Girl Child

Today there are 130 million “missing women” due to gender selection around the world, with many societies still placing greater value on boys over girls.

Abhorrent practices include prenatal abortion of female babies, abandonment, neglect, malnourishment, and denial of medical treatment to girls. Gender imbalance is greatest in China, India, and North Africa, but it is present in over 20 countries worldwide.

Why Do Some Societies Prefer Boys?

Photo by Pranav Kumar Jain on Unsplash

“May you be the mother of a hundred sons” (Ancient Sanskrit blessing.)

The answer to this question lies in deeply ingrained social, cultural, and economic factors. The desire for male children transcends financial status, religion, and gender. The reasons explored here relate to Indian tradition, but many of these values and beliefs are mirrored in other Asian and African countries.

·??????Family Name

A son carries the family name and continues their lineage.

Girls, however, become “Paraya Dhan,” someone else’s property.

·??????Care for Ageing Parents

Traditionally, it was a son’s “pious obligation” to take care of his parents in old age. After a daughter was married, she was expected to take care of her husband’s parents, but not her own, and she could only visit her family when he allowed it. Parents who only gave birth to girls should expect to live alone and suffer in old age, due to their failure to have a boy.

·??????Affirming Masculinity

Upon the birth of a boy, both father and baby are openly celebrated.?

Contrastingly, mothers are invariably blamed, and often punished if the baby is a girl.

“Bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbour’s garden.”

(Old Indian proverb.)?

·??????Financial Cost

Although the practice of “Dowry” was supposedly banned in India in 1961, it is still common. Girls are deemed so worthless, that upon marriage, the bride’s family must compensate her husband’s by providing an additional dowry. This may be in the form of money, land, property, cars, or other luxury items. Even well-off families worry about their ability to afford a marriage for their daughter. As social status rises, so does the cost of dowries and weddings, and these can be crippling.

In China and many African countries, it is the man who pays the dowry or “bride price.” The problem with this is that it leads to perceived ownership of the woman.

·??????Responsibility for the Safety of Daughters

Although parents may adore their daughters, they can’t help but fear for their vulnerability. Girls continue to be brutally tortured and subjected to sexual violence. Be it rape, acid attack, or domestic violence, the woman, not the perpetrator is usually blamed for the assault because of her insubordinate attitude.?Not only that, but her whole family is dishonoured. The extra responsibility of ensuring safety of daughters in cultures where there is marked gender inequality is an additional burden.

“To attain salvation, gain a son.”

(Hindu Scripture)

·??????Religious Reasons

Most religious leaders, regardless of faith are male, thus conferring an innate spiritual superiority on boys.

In Hinduism, only a son is believed capable to light the funeral pyre and perform the last rites at his parents’ funeral, ensuring their souls will ascend to heaven.

The Gender Gap

The obsession with sons has resulted in female foeticide on a massive scale, particularly in Asia. China’s one-child policy (instituted from 1979-2016) resulted in 35 million fewer girls being born than biologically expected.

Prenatal sex identification was banned in China in 1994. India followed suit with their?“beti bachao,” “Save the girl child” campaign in 2008 after statistics showed that 60% of girls born in the Salem District of Tamil Nadu were killed within 3 days of birth. However, despite these measures, the gender gap continues to rise because of the continued superior value placed on boys, and a corrupt underground selective abortion service.

“Spend 500 Rupees now, save Rs.50,000 later”

(Real societal advertising campaign in India circa 2005)

Antenatal clinics in India have been reported to give families pink or blue sweets following an ultrasound scan. The pink ones come with an offer of a speedy abortion.

As recently as July 2019, surveys showed that no girls had been born in 132 villages in Uttarkashi over a 3-month period.

India’s aversion to girls is not necessarily more common amongst the poor illiterate in rural communities. In fact, increased social standing, wealth, and urban city dwelling equate with increased ability to access sex determination technology and act upon it. Additionally, richer couples often choose to limit their family size, thus placing greater pressure on their only child to be a son.

Those with enough money can go one step further by using IVF treatment to ensure they have a boy. Doctors in this specialty are regularly approached by wealthy families offering over Rs.500,000 in return for implantation of male-only embryos. ?

Case Illustrations

Dr Mitu Khurana’s Story

Whilst an inpatient at the Jaipur Golden Hospital, Dr Khurana’s husband and his parents arranged for staff to carry out an ultrasound to determine the sex of her baby. She was carrying twin girls. After this discovery, they badgered her continually to have at least one of them killed, saying that they would not be able to afford to get them married.

Her husband accused her of adultery and demanded a DNA test. He maintaned that a priest had told him he would only father one son, therefore the girls could not be his. After giving birth to the girls, Mitu’s mother-in-law tried to push one of them down the stairs.

Nirmala’s Story.

Nirmala Devi had given birth to two daughters when she became pregnant again. Her husband and his family pulled her by the hair and forced her into an ultrasound clinic in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It was a girl. She was taken straight to hospital where an abortion was performed. However, she failed to regain consciousness and died later at her home. Her brother told police that her husband had regularly beaten her since their wedding in 2003.

Rekha’s Story

Rekha was eight when she was married. Her first daughter was born when she was just 13. Her husband beat her with sticks and her mother-in-law regularly tortured her and asked her to kill the child. On the day her second daughter was born, Rekha was asked to leave the house. When she refused to go, her mother-in-law poured paraffin all over her and threatened to light it. The baby was beside her and she had matches in her hands. Neighbours heard the screams and rushed into the house. They told Rekha to leave before she ended up dead. Her mother-in-law simply said it would be better if she was dead.?

Result of Gender Inequality on Women and Girls

Gender inequality is most extreme in sub-Saharan Africa, and infrastructure to advance women’s basic human rights is particularly weak. Legislation to protect women from violence and rape is lacking. Child marriage laws are not enforced, and many girls sold as wives are forced to bear children in their early teens. Adolescent girls are twice as likely to be infected with HIV than young men of the same age. Female genital mutilation remains widely practiced.

Barriers to education for Girls

·??????The urge to educate a female child is low as it is seen as pointless when her role is to get married and bear children.

·??????In areas of water shortage, it is the girls’ job to fetch water – sometimes from many miles away. This duty denies young girls the opportunity to attend school.

·??????The lack of autonomy for girls to control what happens to their lives and bodies negatively affects their chances of completing their education.

·??????Even if a woman is well educated and equally earning as her husband, she is considered more responsible for domestic chores including cooking, cleaning, and childcare. ?

Result of Gender Inequality on Men and Boys

Boys also face gender issues. These include recruitment into armed forces,?early workforce exploitation,?and the impact of being brought up to adopt negative masculine stereotypes including the acceptance of male violence as a method of control.

“Guang Gun”

Single men in China re called guang gun which means “bare branches.”

In China and India combined there are over 50 million excess men under the age of 20. Many of these men will never find a partner, get married or have children. Those who have failed to fulfil their traditional role in society are often excluded, leaving them vulnerable to loneliness and depression. The imbalance of males also correlates with an increased prevalence of violence and aggression, sexual crimes, prostitution, and human trafficking.

The “bride price” for a Chinese bride has soared from a few hundred dollars to around $30,000. With a lack of local supply, men are taking tours, (at a cost of $8000 upwards), to Russia. However, women from poorer neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam are also sought after and are regarded as less demanding. They are enticed to China with promises of money and jobs, which often don’t exist when they get there.

Websites like “ZhongYueLove.com” (China-Viet-Love) offer a selection of Vietnamese women. Some services offer a money-back guarantee if the bride is not a virgin, and a free replacement for any who?run away within a year.

“You are my slave, I bought you. If I want, I can do anything I want to you.”

Chinese husband speaking to his 32-year-old Cambodian bride.

Many imported brides have suffered horrendous treatment from abusive husbands, been trafficked into prostitution, or ended up in labour camps.

Solutions

In countries where gender imbalance exists, this problem needs to be tackled at many levels. A change in the mindset and societal values depends upon social messaging, political attitudes, and strong implementation of laws which prevent discrimination against women.

IYASU supports the Malala Fund which invests in girls’ education worldwide, empowering them to have their voices heard and become leaders in a more humane and equal world.