Pick up any lifestyle magazine and it will give you tips on how to make your sex-life steamier. Pick up any Sunday tabloid and the chances are very high that in there you'll find a sensational article on the sexual-preferences of the urban male/female. Yours truly's blog here doesn't offer any of that. Instead, its aim is to bring a not so prominent piece of reality to your notice.Hypocrisy:
Phrases like 'India, a world leader', 'India shining', 'India liberated' etc don't seem that bright once you look at one particular aspect of India's demographic details: The Sex Ratio. India's Sex ratio, which is the ratio of females to males in the population, is far too skewed from normal(which is equal to unity; alternatively written as 1000).
While we boast that we have a female President in Pratibha Patil and a female leader of the ruling coalition in the Parliament in Sonia Gandhi -- while we celebrate the staggering achievements of Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, Indra Nooyi, Kiran M. Shaw and Sania Mirza -- we all fail to undo the hypocrisy of sex selection in India.
Some figures:
Lets get some statistics into the picture. According to the CIA World Factbook, India ranks 197 in the 'List of sex ratios by country/region' which lists 216 countries of the world in descending order of their Female:Male sex ratio. Northern Mariana Islands, with the Sex ratio of 1298, tops the list. Try guessing what is India's corresponding statistical figure. The 2001 census found it to be a measly 933 ie India has only 933 females for every 1000 males.
The following table gives the sex ratios found through national census in the last 10 decades:
Year ---------------Sex Ratio
1901 ---------------- 972
1911 ---------------- 964
1921 ---------------- 955
1931 ---------------- 950
1941 ---------------- 945
1951 ---------------- 946
1961 ---------------- 941
1971 ---------------- 930
1981 ---------------- 934
1991 ---------------- 927
2001 ---------------- 933
Most shocking is the trend that is seen if we peruse the data: the figure in question has steadily fallen from 972 in 1901 to 933 in 2001. Do I need to explicitly state that the hype and hoopla about gender equality is all but a farce!
Sex-selective abortion and infanticide:
Sex-selective abortion is the targeted abortion of a fetus based upon its sex. This is done after a determination is made (usually by ultrasound but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure) that the fetus is of an undesired sex. Sex selective infanticide is the practice of selective infanticide against infants of an undesired sex. One common method is child abandonment. Unfortunately these practices are widely prevalent in India. We should be ashamed of this. I'd rather not talk of the motivation/reason behind such unethical and ghastly acts as it just does not make any sense to me.
Societal effects:
Sex selection has larger societal effects, particularly in relation to demographics. It is estimated that by 2020 there could be more than 25 million young 'surplus males' in India. The worsening sex ratio in India is affecting gender issues related to sex compositions of Indian households. The ratio is significantly lower than the national average in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana. However, most importantly, the loss of the 'natural balance' will result in a skewed society which will be warped from within to the extent of being unable to concentrate on other important issues of national interest. The hindi movie Matrubhoomi (2005) tried to portray this. The movie takes one to a village which is a representative microcosm of a nation: a nation in which women are almost extinct as a result of rampant female infanticide. And the men have been reduced to a state of absolute desperation and barbarianism.
Ethical Concerns:
If one sex is preferred over another, individuals in the non-preferred sex would be at a disadvantage. Opponents of social sex selection argue that the procedure would artificially unequalize the ratio of females to males, leading to discrimination, potential violence and abuse of the smaller group.
There may be psychological implications for both the parents and child if the procedure does not produce a child of the desired sex. Furthermore, problems may also arise if the gender-related expectations of the parents are not subsequently fulfilled by the child. However, it may be the case that any child will fail to fulfill particular parental expectations. Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on promoting acceptance and tolerance within parents as opposed to completely banning sex selection.
Many argue that by selecting the sex of their child, parents are using the child as a means of fulfilling their own desires rather than respecting the child as a person and an end in their own right.
A Call:
It is upon us to change our ideology and thus change that of our nation. We, who are fortunate to be educated, must do whatever little we can to bring about a positive change in this respect in the society. If God made the girl child and the boy child equal who are we to differentiate between the two.
Lets take India ahead.
Sex-selective abortion and infanticide:
Sex-selective abortion is the targeted abortion of a fetus based upon its sex. This is done after a determination is made (usually by ultrasound but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure) that the fetus is of an undesired sex. Sex selective infanticide is the practice of selective infanticide against infants of an undesired sex. One common method is child abandonment. Unfortunately these practices are widely prevalent in India. We should be ashamed of this. I'd rather not talk of the motivation/reason behind such unethical and ghastly acts as it just does not make any sense to me.
Societal effects:
Sex selection has larger societal effects, particularly in relation to demographics. It is estimated that by 2020 there could be more than 25 million young 'surplus males' in India. The worsening sex ratio in India is affecting gender issues related to sex compositions of Indian households. The ratio is significantly lower than the national average in certain states such as Punjab and Haryana. However, most importantly, the loss of the 'natural balance' will result in a skewed society which will be warped from within to the extent of being unable to concentrate on other important issues of national interest. The hindi movie Matrubhoomi (2005) tried to portray this. The movie takes one to a village which is a representative microcosm of a nation: a nation in which women are almost extinct as a result of rampant female infanticide. And the men have been reduced to a state of absolute desperation and barbarianism.
Ethical Concerns:
If one sex is preferred over another, individuals in the non-preferred sex would be at a disadvantage. Opponents of social sex selection argue that the procedure would artificially unequalize the ratio of females to males, leading to discrimination, potential violence and abuse of the smaller group.
There may be psychological implications for both the parents and child if the procedure does not produce a child of the desired sex. Furthermore, problems may also arise if the gender-related expectations of the parents are not subsequently fulfilled by the child. However, it may be the case that any child will fail to fulfill particular parental expectations. Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on promoting acceptance and tolerance within parents as opposed to completely banning sex selection.
Many argue that by selecting the sex of their child, parents are using the child as a means of fulfilling their own desires rather than respecting the child as a person and an end in their own right.
A Call:
It is upon us to change our ideology and thus change that of our nation. We, who are fortunate to be educated, must do whatever little we can to bring about a positive change in this respect in the society. If God made the girl child and the boy child equal who are we to differentiate between the two.
Lets take India ahead.
6 comments:
Well....This piece of text is really an eye-opener for the present society....which is blindly following..The immoral and inhumane
act of killing Female child under the influence of the desires of having a male child.
Kudos to the writer for Putting these facts in this systematic manner,hope it will bring some awareness for our "So Called Literate and Civilized society".
Thanks for the appreciation Swapnil.
anuj, you have really written it very well:-)
I admire how you take the time to research and learn about these things, and then put your opinions out there.
Looks like you haven't been writing in a while. I just noticed that '100 years of solitude' was listed as one of your favorite books.
I'm glad.
I have the most awful time trying to convince people to read that book. But isn't the book just ingenius?
Post a Comment