It was almost eight months, since this was going on. People always warning me that, I would have to share a lot of things if it happened. I for once knew what I was doing, even though I was too young to understand. Dad had a big smile, when he first heard me pray about it. And mom asking me names when we had those evening walks on the streets of Panajim, 16 years back. But its a pity that this is quiet not the case in most Indian families.
Daughters are regarded as a liability, eventually belonging to the family of her future husband, expenditure on her will benefit others, they think. Some one who can carry the family surname but just lose it on the way out. Still prevalent in our communities, the cost of her dowry could be phenomenal.
This issue struck me out of the blue, when a friend of mine told me how provoked she was about the fact of people being happy when they have a boy baby than when its a girl.
It was a month back when I noticed this board in the Ultrasound department in my University here in the Caucus, it read, in two different languages The gender of a child cannot be disclosed. Later on a chat with the nurse I found out that it could be done if the doctor was paid about 40$.
I am pretty sure about the similar boards and activities with the Indian doctors back home.
Women's rights activists', sometime fail to realize that educated women abort more that uneducated women when they find out its a girl. What are they doing about this? But as someone pointed out yes, women who choose this might be those who are under pressure, or women who are not the ones who are making the decision. Its hard to deny that the rights for women have not been low in India.
The practice of aborting female foetuses is becoming a major problem in India. This is a much larger problem in the future. Among other problems, it will make it harder for men to find wives. In China, where a one-child policy is strictly enforced, prenatal sex selection has resulted in an estimated 40 million bachelors.
Times are changing; girls can become successful heirs. Its time parents realized that girls care more than boys at certain instances, when it comes to family problems. We know that females have 10 times the amount of white matter than males, which controls networking abilities. They are getting more rights. 'She' is found in every field, be it technology, medicine, or defense.
I am not sure if this small article would eradicate this major problem of female foetus abortion. But Im sure, at the end of the day it will give me the peace of mind that I did voice against it.
Give her a life.
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