Gender bias in India

While the whole of South Asia is riven by deep-seated rivalry and hostility on most issues, there are quite a few areas in which Pakistan and India share a set of common problems. None of these is more pronounced than the misogynous attitude of these societies towards women and the continued preference for boys over girls. India seems to be a bigger offender of course. The latest economic survey undertaken in India has shown that there are more than 63 million women statistically “missing” across the length and breadth of the country. One only has to look at the ratio of men to women in certain areas of India to understand how widespread and entrenched sex-selective abortions are. As opposed to girls, boys receive better nutrition and medical care. The survey also indicates that the parents of a male child are more likely to stop having children than those where girls are conceived. Though the law forbids sex-selective abortions, Indian parents are able to find medics who will bend the law to their advantage. Somewhere out there is always a doctor or even a quack prepared to do so for a hefty fee.

Financial realities seem to have sunk deeper into the long-held cultural belief that daughters spell trouble for a family and bring a life-long stigma. Yet in a different line of thinking the conception and birth of a son is a cause for wide celebration. It is hardly surprising that Indian girls are less educated than boys. Even educated and affluent women face intense pressure from their families to produce sons. Over 21 million Indian girls were counted by the survey as being unwanted by their families. The first way to confront the societal preference for boys is to recognise it as a problem. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2018.

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