Thursday, 29 August 2013

Gender Inequality- Part I (Sex Selective Abortions)


            Gender inequality means inequality based on gender of an individual and usually refers to the discrimination made against women. The practice has been prevalent in almost all over the world though some exceptions could be cited here and there. The practice had started quite early in the course of human history although its severity fluctuated from time to time. The differences were not so evident when the human beings were at the stage of hunters and food gatherers. However, slowly with agriculture becoming the mainstay of the economy led menfolk abandoning hunting and taking up full time agriculture. Introduction of heavy iron ploughshare, which increased agricultural output, also restricted participation of women in agriculture and slowly she was pushed in the four walls of the household. Economic activities in the prehistoric and early historical period were highly labour intensive requiring a steady supply of labour. It made economic sense to get this labour from the family. Women were expected to maintain this supply by giving birth to more and more sons. Socio-religious systems were accordingly moulded to achieve this objective and woman was made more and more subservient to the males. It was said in the texts that a virtuous women lived under control of her father in her childhood, her husband in her youth and her son in the old age.
            
            With the passage of time, this preference for male child continued to grow and in some areas developed into hatred for the girl child resulting in the inhuman and barbaric practice of female infanticide or killing of a girl child immediately after her birth. The problem has been amply documented during the colonial rule. The British detected the problem in 1789 when one of their officers, Jonathan Duncan, Resident of Benares, discovered that some families were practicing female infanticide. Soon it was noticed that the practice was prevalent in many areas of North and West India. Initially the British tried to solve the problem through social and religious manifestations, but when these methods failed to control the situation, “Female Infanticide Prevention Act” was brought in 1870 to prevent such killings. However, the evil practice could not be eradicated and the bias against the girl child has continued up to this day.

Economic and Social factors

            Social structure in our country has grown in a way which is discriminatory to the female. In the traditional Indian society, a daughter is not groomed to become financially independent and hence her capacity to make financial contributions to her parental family becomes severely restricted as compared to the son who is expected to provide support to the family. Daughter has to be married off after which she leaves her parental house and is in no position to make any contribution to her parental family. Apart from this the practice of dowry has made the financial burden heavier. Due to these reasons, many parents consider their daughters as burden which they may want to avoid.  

            At the social plane, in a patriarchal and feudal society like ours, more value is attached to a son, who is supposed to continue family lineage. Only he can conduct the last rites of parents and only he can offer prayers to ancestors. On the other hand, a girl has no such religious or social utility. When the girl grows up, she has to be given off in marriage. As per traditional social practice, the groom’s family is considered superior and the girl’s family has to unwillingly accept their ritualistic superiority. The practice prevails even now but was more deep rooted in the medieval period. This hurt the pride of many people, including many tribes in Punjab and led them to consider girls as a potential source of their indignation which they avoided by resorting to female infanticide.

Present situation
            In the later decades of the 20th century, Aminocentesis test, which was supposed to be used for detecting genetic disorders, came to be used to determining foetal sex. Determination of foetal sex was further facilitated by the increase in use of sonography. Easy availability of these facilities coupled with unethical attitude of a number of professionals from the medical fraternity resulted in large number of sex selective abortions. Many of those people, who were earlier not resorting to female infanticide due to not being able to kill their own children or out of the fear of punishment for doing a murder, were now indulging in female foeticide. Socio-economic conditions as well as lack of appropriate legal provisions and poor implementation of existing laws has further aggravated the problem.

Declining Sex Ratio

            Most important impact of this practice has been witnessed in the decline in sex ratio i.e. the number of females per thousand males.  Some people have argued that decline in sex ratio is not only due to sex selective abortions but also due to the fact that infant  mortality rates and child mortality rates are higher for female child than the male child. The argument could be true. As per SRS Statistical Report 2011, Infant Mortality Rate i.e. infant deaths (within one year of birth) per thousand live births, is 46 for females and 43 for males. Similarly Child Death Rate i.e death rate of children between age 0-4 is 13 for females and 11.5 for males. However, this again is a due to discrimination between a boy and a girl in providing nutrition, healthcare etc.

Sex ratio in India has steadily declined since the beginning of 20th century. As per census of 1901 the sex ratio was 972 which declined to 933 in the year 2001. As per 2011 census the ratio is 940 females per thousand males which though a marginal improvement from 2001 is still much lower than the global average of 984. It is all the more alarming as some of the most populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have sex ratios much lower than the national average, the figures being 908 and 916 respectively. Surprisingly, Delhi which is the national capital and has better facilities in terms of education and medical infrastructure has a very low sex ratio of 866, less than even that of Haryana, which is notorious for gender inequality and has a sex ratio of 877.

Impact of declining sex ratio

            This is an alarming situation having profound social impacts. In the long run, low sex ratio would lead to changes in the marriage patterns and family systems. Men are likely to suffer as there will be fewer brides to marry which would mean that men will have to delay their marriage and some of them will have to forego their marriage altogether. The families of those who marry late will have higher requirements as they will have less number of years to fulfill their responsibilities. Those who do not marry at all will have to be adjusted in their parental families which will affect the family patterns.

Women also do not stand to gain in this scenario, as they will face greater pressure for marrying and having a family at an early age which will affect their career prospects and hence their financial independence. Masculinization of society may also lead to more violence and crime against women. An undesirable aspect is the trafficking of women from poorer backgrounds for purpose of marriage with men in more areas which are economically more prosperous but have lesser number of females. Thus the situation will not benefit anyone but will result in loss for all.

Steps for prevention

            Female foeticide is a discrimination based on gender and is also the denial of Right to Life to the girl child. Section 312 to 315 of the Indian Penal Code relate to such kind of offences and provide for imprisonment and penalty for the offenders. However, the magnitude of the problem led the Government to enact the Pre Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostics Technology (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, which lays elaborate guidelines for doctors running ultrasound or other diagnostic centres capable of pre-natal sex determination. The Act also provides for imprisonment and fines for persons involved in sex determination. The Act is implemented by the Appropriate Authorities and Advisory Committees and Boards constituted under the Act.

However, punishments under the Act are few and rare, primary reason being the poor implementation of the Act. Although the Act was made in the year 1994, the corresponding rules were notified in the year 1996, after a delay of about two years. Even after this, the Act was not implemented properly. The Appropriate Authorities, Advisory Committees and Boards were not timely constituted in all the states due to which no action could be taken. This was noted by the Supreme Court in its judgment passed in the year 2003 in the case of Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) & Others Vs Union of India. In the judgment, the Court directed the Government to implement the Act with zeal and vigour.

Present situation is that requisite authorities have been notified in the states; this has no doubt provided a legal framework for implementation of the Act. However, the punishments under the Act are rare, although, one of the reasons could be that the act of sex selection is done with the consent of all concerned leaving no quarter for complaint from any side. As such, the legal provisions do not appear to be have made a dent in the problem.

             Simultaneously, it has also been realized that the problem is essentially a social one and only legal provisions may not suffice. Considering this aspect, the government as well as some non government organizations, have been creating awareness on this subject through media and other campaigns. Some specific schemes are also being run by the Government in which various incentives are given to the girl child and her parents. The objective of these campaigns and schemes is to make people aware that girls do not bring a higher liability than boys and if given a chance, can rise to same heights as the boys.

Future

            Sex ratio as per census of 2011 is 940 which is a slight improvement from 932 as per census of 2001. However, this should not be a cause for happiness or complacency as sex ratio in the child population in age group of 0-6 years has declined from 927 in the year 2001 to 914 in the year 2011. This would mean that despite all the aforesaid efforts, problem has persisted and needs much stricter measures. One such measure could be enacting laws for putting this crime in the category of “murder” and dealt accordingly. Apart from this, we also need to remove gender bias from the society as only this will encourage parents to desist from this practice. 

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