I am a woman; this crime… punishable by death

The discrimination of women exists in various forms in societies all over the world. However, Indian society displays some unique and particularly brutal versions, such as dowry deaths and female foeticde. (Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry.) Female foeticide is an extreme manifestation of violence against women.

Where religious/cultural practices, and gender are combine to become a deadly cocktail of suffering. Female foetuses are selectively aborted after pre-natal sex determination, thus killing the girl babies.

As a result of selective abortion, between 35 and 40 million girls and women are missing from the Indian population. In some parts of the country, the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to less than 800:1,000.

The decline in the number of girls is more pronounced in richer and better educated households. The trend is far stronger in urban rather than rural areas, and among literate rather than illiterate women, exploding the myth that growing affluence and spread of basic education alone will result in the erosion of gender bias.

Among Hindus, preference for the male child is deeply enshrined in belief and practice. In Hindu practice a woman is to always be in the care of a man (with my western lens I see this less as cared for and more like owned by): first father, then husband, then son.

A woman can not receive salvation, only men can. Only a son can light the pyre at the death ceremony in order for a person to receive salvation – and in this senero, a woman is NOT a person. If you don’t have a son, how will you have salvation? Modern medical technology is used in the service of this religion-driven devaluing of women and girls.

Religion operates alongside other cultural and economic factors in lowering the status of women. The practice of dowry has spread nationwide, to communities and castes in which it had never been the custom, fueled by consumerism and emulation of upper caste practices. In the majority of cases, the legal system has no impact on the practice of dowry. It is estimated that a dowry death occurs in India every 93 minutes.

An overwhelming majority (82.97 percent) cited dowry as the main cause for female foeticide. For them marriage had become an expensive affair. The rise in the cost of living had compelled them think seriously about having daughters. The greater the number of daughters, more was the economic burden on the parents. About 86 percent of those who gave a nod to female foeticide stated that girls failed to provide any kind of social security to parents. Parents could not expect their daughters to earn and feed them in old age.

“Bringing up a daughter is like watering a neighbors plant”.

The girls in India are disappearing, and they have not vanished overnight. Decades of sex determination tests and female foeticide that has acquired genocide proportions are finally catching up with states in India.

There are posters in Bombay advertising sex-determination tests that read, ‘It is better to pay 500 Rs now than 50,000 Rs (in dowry) later’.

Now that you are educated and probably overwhelmed by the size and impact of this issue, I am pleased inform you that I believe a social movement will soon be on the rise. SALT – an incredible local organization here in India is working on launching a campaign to address the issue of female feticide. I will bring you more updates on the Let Her Live campaign as I learn from these great leaders. Please be praying for wisdom as they tackle this sensitive issue, and Gods blessing as they raise social awareness in an effort to save the girl babies.

*credits – much of this blog was taken from or informed by http://www.rootideas.com/2009/09/female-foeticide-2/

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