Female Infanticide in India

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Female Infanticide in India
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• Female Infanticide the intentional killing of
  baby girls because of a preference for male
  babies.

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• This is murder.
• A parent does not wish to harm their own
  children. This is an act of desperation.

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Why Does This Murder Happen?

• Males are considered better than women in some
  parts of Indian society.
• Women are considered sub-serviant.
• They are thought of as the legal and economic
  properties of men.

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What is the Cause of This Sexism?

• 83 of Indias population is Hindu.
• The Hindu texts, The Ramayana and The Laws of
  Manu, represent a good woman as being obedient,
  submissive, and dependent.
• This demeans the value of women.

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What is the Cause of This Sexism?

• Islam, another major religion in India, promotes
  men over women.
• Islam permits polygamy and gives women fewer
  rights than men.

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What Drives People to Such Desperation?

• The institution of a dowry is a tradition in
  India.
• The dowry is a large sum of money given to the
  husbands family from the wifes family.
• Sometimes, when the amount of money is not seen
  as suitable, the husband will murder his wife so
  that he may marry again and collect another dowry.

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• The institution of a dowry has been made illegal.
  
• However, it is estimated that every 93 minutes a
  dowry death occurs.

Having a girl is considered an economic burden.
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Where Does This Murder Happen?

• Newborn baby girls are often killed in the poorer
  regions of India.
• Over the past few years, more than 4,500 baby
  girls have been killed in the Salem District of
  Southern India.
• These women kill their children by forcing them
  to swallow rice husks and choke, by feeding them
  poisonous fertilizer powders, by drowning them,
  or by letting them starve.
• "Instead of her suffering the way I do, I thought
  it was better to get rid of her. Lakshmi, a
  woman living in Tamil Nadu.

As recently as 1998, 200 baby girls were killed
annually in Tamil Nadu.
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The Alternative

• Murdering babies is obviously morally incorrect.
• So how about selectively aborting female fetuses?

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Technology Makes an Impact

• This practice was originally only done by the
  upper class, who had access to the medical
  equipment.
• Now, ultra-sound machines have become cheaper and
  therefore more readily available to the lower
  class as well.
• This practice of aborting fetuses based on gender
  has been illegal since 1994.

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Is This the Solution?

• In India, 500,000 female fetuses are aborted
  every year.
• Does this violate womens rights?
• It is violence against women.
• But is it better than murdering newborn female
  babies?

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• A poster in Bombay reads It is better to pay
  500 Rs now than 50,000 Rs (in dowry) later.

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Multiple Views

• Some people are in strong support of making
  ultra-sound machines and abortion readily
  available to all, believing that this will lower
  the cases of killing newborn girls.
• Others believe that this is violence against all
  women, and that further measures should be taken
  to end sexism in India.

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The Effect

• Selectively aborting female fetuses and killing
  baby girls has caused a severe gender imbalance
  in India.
• There are 880 females for every 1,000 males.
• In the United States, there are 955 females for
  every 1,000 males.

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Laws Alone Cannot Stop This

• The government in India has not been blind to
  this issue.
• Laws have been made to prevent female infanticide
  and the selective abortion of female fetuses.
• But it is still going on, right now.

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Its Up to You

• These murders are happening halfway across the
  world, but that does not mean you cant help.
• It is up to you to decide what the best solution
  is. To decide the best way you can help.

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• You can save these girls.

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You can give these girls a future
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Support an Individual

• A 30 monthly donation to the Promiseland
  Orphanage will support a child. Sending this
  young girl letters will show her support, and
  give her the love that she needs to grow up
  feeling wanted. Below is the website.
• http//www.abolishfemaleinfanticide.com/donations.
  html

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Relief Projects India

• This organization has a variety of projects that
  it supports.
• The Mercy Home is located in Tamil Nadu and takes
  in abandoned children.
• The SHE Program helps mothers find government aid
  and get medical check-ups. They also help aid
  children and mothers in obtaining an education.
  This program actively reports any unnatural
  deaths so as to put a stop to the female
  infanticide.
• These are a few of the programs. To donate and
  find out more, visit
• http//www.reliefprojects.org/index.html.

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• There are many ways in which you can show your
  support.
• Decide where you stand on the issue, and take
  action.
• You can help these girls.

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Sources

• "Despite Economic Growth, India Lets Its Girls
  Die - Health News." Free Email Addresses Web
  Based and Secure Email - Mail.com. 4 May 2011.
  Web. 22 May 2011. lthttp//www.mail.com/scitech/hea
  lth/391394-despite-economic-growth-india-girls-die
  .htmlgt.
• "India Aborts 500,000 Female Fetuses a Year
  Study - World - CBC News." CBC News. 9 Jan. 2006.
  Web. 22 May 2011. lthttp//www.cbc.ca/news/world/st
  ory/2006/01/09/indiababies060109.htmlgt.
• Grewal, Indu, and J. Kishore. "Female Foeticide
  in India." International Humanist and Ethical
  Union The World Union of Humanist
  Organizations. 1 May 2004. Web. 22 May 2011.
  lthttp//www.iheu.org/female-foeticide-in-indiagt.
• added
• "Grim Motives behind Infant Killings." Featured
  Articles from CNN. CNN World, 07 July 2003. Web.
  22 May 2011. lthttp//articles.cnn.com/2003-07-07/w
  orld/india.infanticide.pt1_1_baby-girls-killings-f
  ewer-girls?_sPMasiapcfgt.
• Jones, Adam. "Case Study Female Infanticide."
  Gendercide Watch. 2000. Web. 22 May 2011.
  lthttp//www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.htmlgt.