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Wed 2 Jul, 2003 09:03 am
Is one solution to reduce female infanticide to outlaw the dowry tradition? Why does this tradition continue when it creates such terrible acts against females in so many countries?
---BumbleBeeBoogie
Newborn emerges alive 16 hours after burial
Wed Jul 2 2003 02:08:29 ET
New Delhi (dpa) - A newborn baby girl buried by her father - who did not want a daughter - emerged alive 16 hours later from her grave in central India, a report said Wednesday.
The United News of India reported the infant, the third daughter of her parents, was buried alive by her father in a village in Rewa district, in Madhya Pradesh state, soon after her birth last week despite protests by the mother.
The matter became known to police, and district officials ordered the grave dug up. To their surprise the girl was found alive, and the child was admitted to hospital. The father absconded.
Birth of female children is looked down upon in many areas of India while sons are prized. Girls are seen as a drain on the family's resources, as they must be married off with dowry while boys are viewed as providers.
As a result, female foeticide and infanticide are quite common in many rural Indian areas.
BBB, I've become aware of the infanticide in India about two years ago, because a friend I have in Tanzania told me about it. It seems millions of girl babies are killed in India every year for the reasons you describe in your post. It's really shocking, but what can we do to help stop this practice? c.i.
cicerone imposter wrote:It seems millions of girl babies are killed in India every year for the reasons you describe in your post.
Calling these figures as overestimated would be the understatement of the year I guess
The western press has this annoying habit of picking up an incident in a third world country and blowing it completely out of proportion - just to remind the first world as to how "lucky" they by not living in these hell holes.
Yes, female infanticide is a problem - specially due to the reasons given by BBB and primarily in the rural societies. But as awareness is growing, this problem is also becoming less acute - specially as the governement has finally woken up to this and is taking stern steps against the people who perpertrate this henious crime.
Should add, that international adoption agencies are hard at work to try to get these little babies adopted.
The following link provides some information on female infanticide in India.
http://www.warroom.com/femalinfancide.htm IMHO, it's a practice that will not disappear simply from better education of the Indian people nor government mandates, because old cultural habits die hard. The only solution seems to be more jobs that would pay a 'living' wage in India. No simple solutions to a difficult problem. c.i.
I read somewhere that in China there will be a real problem coming up where millions of young men won't be able to find wives. Because of the government's "one child" policy, many couples kill their infant girls, so they can keep on trying to have a son. This is leading to an imbalance between the number of boys and girls growing up.
Jim, I've also read about the shortage of girls/women in China. It will be interesting to watch the outcome of the one child policy of China when these men become the age of marriage and family. c.i.
cicerone imposter wrote:IMHO, it's a practice that will not disappear simply from better education of the Indian people nor government mandates, because old cultural habits die hard. The only solution seems to be more jobs that would pay a 'living' wage in India. No simple solutions to a difficult problem. c.i.
IMHO, you're completely right.
PS: Can anyone provide statistics about the male/female population ratio in China? I'm currently under the impression it's not nearly as big a difference as some people think.
Monger, According to the following link, male to female ratio in China is 120 males to every 100 females.
http://www.euthanasia.com/china-ra.html
I'm not sure what determines a crisis, but there are going to be many socio-economic problems that we are unable to identify until they happen. c.i.
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