Genes and genders

Biased attitudes towards the girl child are the reason why women in Pakistan face discrimination.

The pressures on women to produce a son once married are often intense, an outcome over which neither potential parent has any control. Not infrequently, the blame for failing to produce a son is wrongly laid at the door of the woman. Recently, a woman in Faisalabad was divorced by her husband of six years on the grounds that she had just given birth to their third daughter. He divorced her on the doorstep of her home when she returned with the newborn and refused to let her in. Previously, he had threatened to kill her if she produced another daughter. He had sought amulets in the hope that by some ‘magic’, they would ensure his wife conceived a son. The ‘magic’ failed, the woman is now divorced and homeless as her parents also refused to take her back. The misfortunes of the poor woman are by no means isolated, and not all cases similar to hers make it to being reported in the media.

It is important that those who have influence over large parts of our population, as well as the media and civil society, play their role in challenging the deep ignorance and misconceptions prevalent in our society. It is essential that our people are told that the gender of a child is determined at conception by the characteristics of the chromosomes in the male sperm, which determines whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. Neither parent is able to ‘influence’ the gender of their baby, but it is the male that is the determinant and not the woman. Thus, it is never the ‘fault’ of women that they have successive girl children, and if there is any so-called ‘fault’ to be ascribed, then it lies — always — with the man. A simple fact lost in the mists of ignorance. Additionally, it is also important that society transforms its attitudes towards the girl child. Such biased attitudes are the reason why women in Pakistan face discrimination at all levels and at all ages. We badly need to challenge this misogyny.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2013.

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