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Until women live in a society where they are valued and respected, is it surprising they don't want to give birth to girls either?
Until women live in a society where they are valued and respected, is it surprising they don’t want to give birth to girls either?
“May you be blessed with a son.” The blessing I received most when I got married a year ago. People still believe that a son is more valuable than a daughter? I was shocked. And then as I did a bit of research, the big picture came in front of me.
5 million girls are aborted in India every year. That is more than the amount of girls being born in the United States per year. Just search the words ‘female foeticide’ in Wiki. The number of times the word India is mentioned on the page will embarrass you.
“I want a son as we have a big business, I want what my husband has built from scratch to go to his own blood.” A lady says after having nine abortions. “Raising a female child is like watering your neighbor’s plant.” says another Indian woman. Apparently women agree to this act fearing that if they don’t bear a son, they will be replaced by a young, fertile (?) woman, who can bear a son. If people get their biology right, then there would be no need of this talk ever. Somehow the lack of education is a proving to be a catalyst for this issue.
The wonder machine, the ultrasound scanner that determines the sex of the baby is being used at random to kill girls. According to studies, the determination + termination of the female fetus come as a package in many hospitals for a meager 2000 rupees.
There is also a part of the country where women are worshipped and taken care of well. Women walk together with men and are given the same respect. But this is only a single pixel of the larger picture. The picture when seen in entirety is mind baffling and disturbing to say the least.
When we say “Save the girl child” whom are we addressing it to? There needs to be an assumption of responsibility before you put forth something, doesn’t it?
Look into the mirror, and look at yourself. Would you have been standing here if your mother had decided to kill you when you were the size of a peanut? How would you feel if the wife you love so much today had been strangled the minute she was born?
Treat the girls around you well. Be it your mother, your mother-in-law, your sister or your maid. Let them know that they are special. Let them know that they can make a difference. Let them know that they are not less than men in any regard. Make them feel good about themselves. Let them want to give birth to other females.
Let people not dread the three words any more.
It’s a Girl.
A bibliophile with a quest for writing, I'm a techie by day. An eternal optimist and a feminist, I believe that once we achieve equality, we can achieve anything in this world. I firmly read more...
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Dear Women’s Web Community Member,
You may have wondered at our being on the quieter side during the last couple of months. Thank you for your patience, and we wanted to come back to you with a detailed note on what’s been happening at our end of things.
When we first began Women’s Web, as a blog from one woman’s desk along with a few like-minded souls, little could we have imagined the heights that it would soar to. Over the years, Women’s Web has published over 20000 stories (almost all by women), empowered countless women with the ideas, community and resources to chase their dreams, employed hundreds of women in core and project-based roles, and in the process, emerged as the OG women’s community in India. It has also inspired many others to build communities of a similar nature, all enabling women (and other-underrepresented groups) in their own ways.
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