tinuing and found all over the country. The presence of girls
in the north-western Indian homes is the net wealth out flow
on the occasion of a girl’s marriage. With such an environment, it is true that those households or parents with more
sons are far better off than the parents with more daughters. In this way, a daughter becomes a socio-economic
burden.
than that of boys. Wi th increasing employment opportunities for women, the respective governments as well as
community should make sincere efforts to make it acceptable that women too contribute to the well being of their
parents. The practice of arranged marriages needs to be
improved; it should be a matter of the couple’s own
choice,so that young females can escape from the intolerable adjustment situations. Parents believe that the girls
need protection from modernisation; they do not like the
new living styles of the modern youth and do not desire that
their daughters lead such a life. This has led them to prefer
sons.
Issues needed to be Focused
There has been a great deal of hue and cry over the declining child sex ratio, but the actual issues are grossly missing with the missing girls, no one seems to be serious
about recognising issues of the increasing deficit of female
children. Actually too much legislations and Acts are not
needed. What is needed is to change social behaviours as
well as social fundamentals. Shifting behaviour is a lot
tougher than passing laws. As the list of various laws and
Acts is increasing, the evidences of inequalities and vulnerabilities of women and girls are on the rise.
The booming economy has given rise to son preference;
under a bilateral kinship system; parents would not be more
concern only about son. In India, women are generally
considerably younger than their husbands, and they live
longer than their spouses. Wives anticipate relatively long
periods of widowhood, to reduce the dependency of women
on sons, her long period of widowhood to be minimized, this
is possible by way of reducing the age gap of marriage
between brides and grooms. Further the availability of reliable and affordable old age pension, old age social security and life insurance programmes in rural and urban areas
will possibly reduce the excess of dependency on sons.
Had there been effective risk coping institutions, sons
would not have given such weightage. Both the MTP and
PCPNDT Acts have failed; it is suggested that the functioning of the private ultrasound clinics should be banned and
these facilities should be made available only in government-controlled centres. The medical professionals like
gynaecologists, Y-sperm injectors, radiologists, obstetrics,
in-vitro fertilisation experts and also pretenders are virtually responsible for continuously declining female child
population. They have, in fact, a big hand in the murder of
baby girls. Whatever are the reasons from couples’ side,
the final act is being committed by the above categories of
medical professionals? Although most laws are made in
India with great fervour, their execution is the main issue.
Further, state law and order are largely failed in protecting
girls and women form anti-social elements; such worries
are creating insecurity among parents and children, the
anxious kind of situations again restoring a strong son
preference.
Presently, there is a dire need of movement initiators and
social reformers who can contribute as done by the leaders
during India’s independence. Movements have helped earlier in spreading education and in the abolition of practices
like sati and child marriage. These measures positively
influenced the status of women. In the case of the PNDT
Act as well as other Acts, women activist groups are actively involved in the propagation of these Acts and in spite
of this, Acts did not cause the required shift in trends.
Similarly, the PNDT Act did not say any thing about the
reduction of son preference. The declining population of
girls and women should be a major concern for all more
than the legislations and efforts should be focused on the
following lines.
Son preference can effectively be reduced, if daughters are
considered for the inheritance. India needs to accept
strongly a bilateral kinship system. Patriarchy is the root
cause of this disease; eradication can only be effected by
direct attack on patriarchy. Society should introduce a
system where both sons and daughters can perform the
religious rites for their parents; these types of social order
need a big reform. To reduce son preference, it is essential
to have policies that raise the value of girls to their parents
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