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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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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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