GIRL CHILD:

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GIRL CHILD NOT CHARITY, BUT JUSTICE
Dr (Mrs.) MANJU SUBHASH
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• Gloom and resignation at the birth of girl
• Jubilation and celebrations when a son is born
• BOYS ARE GEMS
• girls mere stones

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Gender Inequities

• Strong patriarchal society
• Son preference sex selection infanticide
• Sex ratio disparities
• Health outcomes
• Nutritional status

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• Gender is a social construct
• In contrast to sex, which refers to biological
  differences between males and females, gender is
  a social or cultural construct of the differences
  between women and men.
• People are born female or male, but they acquire
  a gender identity that shapes socially acceptable
  activities for women and men, their relations,
  and their relative power.

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• Women - the facts
• The vast majority of the worlds poor are women
  and girls.
• Women and girls are 80 of the worlds
  refugees.
• Two-thirds of the worlds illiterates are female.
  
• And, of the millions of children kept out of
  school - 2/3 are girls.

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• e is for empowerment ?
• 'e' is for exploitation
• Every hour, four women and girls in India enter
  prostitution, three of them against their will.
• Girls are subjected to child-trafficking,
  debt-bondage, forced labor, pornography,
  prostitution and drugs

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• Social Issues
• Gender roles and the missing female population
• Sons are perceived as an asset
• Security for old age (no social security in
  India)
• Take over the family name.
• Sons get better health care, food and schooling.
• 100 of them must find a bride and produce an
  heir.
• One of the greatest sins is not to have male
  descendants.

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• Social Issues Contd.
• Mothers breast-feed boys longer than girls
• Mothers themselves are discriminated against in
  food and rest after the birth of a girl
• Nutritional medical neglect of girls
• Daughters are not valued
• Sold / rented as a factory worker, wife or
  prostitute.

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• Social Issues Contd.
• Daughters are perceived as a liability
• Marry and leave home to provide labor to another
  family.
• Dowries are often to be paid.
• A girl in her natal home is considered a
  temporary member, and in her husband's house,
  an outsider'

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The Girl Child 7 forms of discrimination

• Malnutrition
• Poor Health
• Lack of Education
• Overwork
• Unskilled
• Mistreatment
• Powerlessness

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• What causes the shortage of girls in India?
• Poverty? YES
• Indian culture? YES-
• Combined with son preference
• 500,000 unborn Indian girls are aborted every
  year after sex screening
• Illiteracy, low educational level? YES?
• Political or economic system? NO

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Temporal trend CSR 1991-2001
Source CensusInfo, India 2001, Office of the
Registrar General, India
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Womens status demographic reality
Sex ratio (0-6 yrs) economically rich states
Declining trend of sex ratio in India
Low womens status in India is captured by the
declining sex ratio across most parts of the
country
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• Legal action to stop female feticide
• Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act ,1971
  (amended in 2002)
• Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique (Regulation and
  Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994
• The Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic
  Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act,
  2003

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Child Marriage
Each year thousands of girls, some as young as 6
months, are married to older boys in weddings
across the Rajasthan as part of the annual Akhai
Teej, festival considered an auspicious day for
marriage.
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DOWRY
Cultural practices of dowry tend to subordinate
women in Indian society.
Nearly 6000 women a year are killed because they
did not bring a big enough dowry -"bride burning"
or "dowry deaths"
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Sati in India

• Sati is the practice through which widows are
  voluntarily or forcibly burned alive on their
  husband's funeral pyre.
• Banned in 1829
• Banned again in 1956 after resurgence.
• Revival of the practice in 1981 Another
  prevention ordinance passed in 1987.

The idea justifying sati is that women have worth
only in relation to men. This illustrates women's
lack of status as individuals in India
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Violence Throughout a Womans Life Cycle

• Childhood
• Child marriage
• Incest
• Female Genital
• Mutilation

• Childhood, adolescence and adult life
• Denial of education, health care or food
• Early or unwanted pregnancy
• Sexual harassment
• Trafficking
• Rape
• Honor killings
• Forced labour

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Violence Against Women
Sexual and gender-based violence, including
physical and psychological abuse, trafficking in
women and girls, and other forms of abuse and
sexual exploitation place girls and women at high
risk of physical and mental trauma, disease and
unwanted pregnancy.
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• Violence Against Girls
• Violence may affect the reproductive health of
  women through
• Increase of sexual risk-taking among
  adolescents,
• Transmission of STDs, including HIV/AIDS, and
• Unplanned pregnancies.
• A girl child, as a result of violence, may loose
  self- confidence, be afraid/angry, and blame
  themselves for what is happening or feel guilty.

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• The Role of Law
• The Indian Constitution, adopted in 1950, not
  only provides equal rights and privileges for men
  and women, but also makes special provisions for
  women. A series of laws have been enacted from
  time to time to raise the status of women. The
  five-year plans have placed special emphasis on
  providing welfare services for women.
  Achievements, however, expressed in terms of
  demographic and employment characteristics show
  the position of women to be unequal. This
  reflects the limitations of the law to bring
  about substantial change.

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GIRL CHILD NOT CHARITY, BUT JUSTICE
Let us begin the task today-now-and try to undo
the damage done to her.
Thank You