What's the solution? Instead of lowering (as predicted), s*x-selective abortions in India are on the rise?

Question

"According to the British medical journal The Lancet, up to 500,000 female fetuses are being aborted every year.

It has long been clear that India has a deep-seated preference for boys. By 2001, researchers estimated the country had anywhere from 20 million to 40 million "missing" girls from s*x-selective abortions made available through the spread of ultrasound technology.

But as India modernizes - as places like Singhpura become small towns, as towns become cities and as India's once-overwhelming poverty is slowly supplanted by an increasingly educated middle class that wants fewer children - researchers say the problem is only getting worse.

"We're now dealing with attitudes that are spreading," said Sabu George, a prominent activist against the practice. "It's frightening what we're heading to."

While the next national census will not be done until 2011, giving a detailed overall picture, study after study has found an increasingly grim situation even as India's middle class grows.

While researchers once thought education and wealth would dampen the preference for boys, the reverse has turned out to be true."

Modern India Still Prays for Boys

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/511024.html

Answer 1

The mentality of dowry has never changed, even throughout the most educated people. i live abroad, but i have a neighbor here whose Indian.

He had to pay about 50 lakh rupees plus a car to his son in law for marriage. that is A LOT of money, and its part of the culture.

in no offense to any culture at all [please i really mean this], this is very prevalent in the Hindu culture, because there is a system of dowry. Whereas if you look at Muslim, Christian, Sikh or Parsi cultures, its not present.

due to the dowry problem, most parents dread the idea of a female child.

there was an advertisement for abortions once in India that said "Rather than paying so many thousands of rupees later on in dowry, pay a couple of hundred now"

last year i watched on the news, there was a huge fiasco where an Indian media channel discovered about 20-25 aborted fetus, almost all of them female. they were just thrown casually out among the hospital garbage.it was the most disgusting yet saddening thing i ever saw.

the ideas should change, the mentality should change, just stamping "modernism" on the country won't solve problems. something as basic as s*x education in middle school is taking so long to come, changing this "boys are better than girls" mentality will take a long time.

there should be laws to how much dowry should be given, just simply banning it will cause an uproar.

and the idea of females still caring for their parents as well as boys in their old age should be promoted [i have seen this happening though, especially in insurance ads], and idea of the female child "cutting off" from the family she was born into after marriage should be discouraged.

Answer 2

Only education is the the answer.  

Answer 3

I'd say that the answer to the gender-selective abortion problem is similar to the abortion problem in general. Value life more, regardless of age (pre-born to pre-death), gender, or any other category.

Answer 4

In some areas of India - it is so extreme that some women are forced to have two husbands- brothers that jointly marry her.   I would really shudder if I had been expected to marry my husbands brother.    

Answer 5

It isn't the only place it is happening- it happens in China too.  Boys not only carry on the family name, they also take care of their parents in their old age.  As girls marry out of the family, and then take care of their in-laws, they may be seen as not being worth as much as a boy.  This might change if the male:female ratio gets too out of whack.  Girls may become more valued.  But if that is to happen, it probably won't be for a long time.  It is sad, though.

Edit:It is still a problem in China, although you are right, in India, it is becoming more and more of a problem.  Unfortunately, that happens when you have a huge population, often combined with an industrial boom.

Answer 6

Female foeticide is deep rooted in the traditional Hindu preference for sons. It has a lot to with future support (sons are more likely to be financially supportive in comparison to daughters), but at the same time it is a symptom of a male dominated society in which women are treated like second class citizens.

India just recently (2006) abolished a husbands "right" to rape his wife! But because this is a society in which women are essentially throttled into submission, any future cases will rarely be reported because of the fear of dishonour and poverty. Today there is a shortage of women in certain areas of India because of s*x selection abortions and as a consequence brides are being sold for as little as 5,000 - 20,000 rupees ($125 - $500)

If this was the world in which I was bringing my daughter and I lacked financial stability then I would probably take the exact same route. It's wrong, but the alternative is even worse.

Answer 7

EDIT: Great post, xerox-head, very interesting information and viewpoint. Thank you.

~*~*~*~

Well, the Chinese government introduced legislation to prevent s*x selective abortion, without limiting abortion rights.

As long as the Indian government continues to wring its hands publicly and wink at the practice in private, it won't end.

In fact, a friend recently told me that one reason her family moved from India was the prevalence of these attitudes.

Women just do not get a fair go in India (this is her family's view, not mine*), so they decided to come to Australia where there was more opportunity for women to have a good education and to have a decent life without the ridiculous boy pressure that happens.

Unfortunately, culture is within, and she and her sisters have felt the sting from their community here.

It is easier, however, in Australia to ensure some sort of equality.

India is heading for trouble and the situation for women is looking particularly grim.

Cheers :-)

* Although from what I know as an outsider, it seems to me they are correct.