India Dishonoured: Behind a Nation's War on Women by Sunny Hundal Page B
Authors: Sunny Hundal
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Indian government banned all pre-natal diagnostic techniques in 1994. The adverts went but the attitudes remained. Some doctors circumvented the law by using codes; for example, if the ultrasound report was written in blue ink, it was a boy and if it was in red ink, a girl. Or if the report was delivered on a Monday, it was a boy and if on a Friday, a girl.
Some five years after the ban the Indian Medical Association (IMA) admitted that companies without qualified personnel were still offering sex-selection services to parents. Surveys consistently found that doctors thought they were offering a humanitarian service by giving parents the option to abort a female foetus, rather than facing a life of misery later. Only then did the government press the IMA to press doctors to obey the law and for the police to enforce it more stridently.
However if national statistics are anything to go by, the law has had very little impact, partly because it is openly flouted and rarely enforced. As recently as December 2012 a local TV station in Mumbai aired a documentary that caught doctors red-handed offering sex-selection and abortion services. There have been scores of such sting operations and widespread coverage in the media. The subject has also been covered in countless chat shows, magazine articles and was recently the topic of discussion on a prime-time show called Satyamev Jayate 3 Translation: ‘truth always triumphs’. It is also India’s official motto, inscribed below the national emblem. hosted by popular Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.
In 1990, economist Amartya Sen wrote a seminal essay in the New York Review of Books estimating that 100 million women were ‘missing’ across Asia due to sex-selection, resulting in foeticide and infanticide. He was referring to not just India but numerous other countries where the practice had become commonplace.
According to the most recent Census in 2011, India’s over-all sex ratio had improved to 940 women for every 1000 men. In comparison, Japan has 1060 women for 1000 men, US has a 1030:1000 ratio and UK 1010:1000. 4 Figures from 2012 CIA World Factbook, relating to overall sex ratio of the population. In contrast, Pakistan has 943 women per 1000 men, Afghanistan 931, while China with 926 and Bhutan with 897 languish even further behind.
There are parts of Punjab – principally in the Malwa region covering several key cities and villages – that are referred to as ‘ kuri mar ’ areas. It translates to ‘girl killers’. A common way to dispose of an unwanted baby girl in this area is to place her in a pot, dig a large hole in the ground and bury her. There is a frequently used phrase for when the deed is done: ‘ kabootri marti ’ – the pigeon has been killed.
It’s worth stepping back here and asking a key question: why do so many Indian parents prefer having boys than girls? Why do they go out of their way to avoid having daughters?
The tradition of paying a dowry during marriage is perhaps the biggest culprit. It is customary in most parts of the country for the bride’s family to make payments to the groom’s family in the form of cash, jewellery, utensils and other goods. This is the dowry. Some historians say the practice originated with aristocratic Europeans who brought it to India, from whom it spread to the local aristocracy and eventually to everyone else. Others say it grew from a tradition that was meant to cement the bond between families and help newly weds set up their own home.
Whatever the origins, the cost of a dowry has grown so much that many families worry about being financially crippled by marrying off a daughter. Though the financial research is sparse, a survey by Vijayendra Rao in 1993 found the average cost of a daughter’s marriage in rural areas was six times the parents’ annual income. 5 Vijayendra Rao: The Rising Price of Husbands, 1993 In many cases it amounted to over 50% of the family’s entire wealth. It is highly likely
Some five years after the ban the Indian Medical Association (IMA) admitted that companies without qualified personnel were still offering sex-selection services to parents. Surveys consistently found that doctors thought they were offering a humanitarian service by giving parents the option to abort a female foetus, rather than facing a life of misery later. Only then did the government press the IMA to press doctors to obey the law and for the police to enforce it more stridently.
However if national statistics are anything to go by, the law has had very little impact, partly because it is openly flouted and rarely enforced. As recently as December 2012 a local TV station in Mumbai aired a documentary that caught doctors red-handed offering sex-selection and abortion services. There have been scores of such sting operations and widespread coverage in the media. The subject has also been covered in countless chat shows, magazine articles and was recently the topic of discussion on a prime-time show called Satyamev Jayate 3 Translation: ‘truth always triumphs’. It is also India’s official motto, inscribed below the national emblem. hosted by popular Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.
In 1990, economist Amartya Sen wrote a seminal essay in the New York Review of Books estimating that 100 million women were ‘missing’ across Asia due to sex-selection, resulting in foeticide and infanticide. He was referring to not just India but numerous other countries where the practice had become commonplace.
According to the most recent Census in 2011, India’s over-all sex ratio had improved to 940 women for every 1000 men. In comparison, Japan has 1060 women for 1000 men, US has a 1030:1000 ratio and UK 1010:1000. 4 Figures from 2012 CIA World Factbook, relating to overall sex ratio of the population. In contrast, Pakistan has 943 women per 1000 men, Afghanistan 931, while China with 926 and Bhutan with 897 languish even further behind.
There are parts of Punjab – principally in the Malwa region covering several key cities and villages – that are referred to as ‘ kuri mar ’ areas. It translates to ‘girl killers’. A common way to dispose of an unwanted baby girl in this area is to place her in a pot, dig a large hole in the ground and bury her. There is a frequently used phrase for when the deed is done: ‘ kabootri marti ’ – the pigeon has been killed.
It’s worth stepping back here and asking a key question: why do so many Indian parents prefer having boys than girls? Why do they go out of their way to avoid having daughters?
The tradition of paying a dowry during marriage is perhaps the biggest culprit. It is customary in most parts of the country for the bride’s family to make payments to the groom’s family in the form of cash, jewellery, utensils and other goods. This is the dowry. Some historians say the practice originated with aristocratic Europeans who brought it to India, from whom it spread to the local aristocracy and eventually to everyone else. Others say it grew from a tradition that was meant to cement the bond between families and help newly weds set up their own home.
Whatever the origins, the cost of a dowry has grown so much that many families worry about being financially crippled by marrying off a daughter. Though the financial research is sparse, a survey by Vijayendra Rao in 1993 found the average cost of a daughter’s marriage in rural areas was six times the parents’ annual income. 5 Vijayendra Rao: The Rising Price of Husbands, 1993 In many cases it amounted to over 50% of the family’s entire wealth. It is highly likely
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