Sex Selective Abortion in India

Half a million girls aborted every year in India

By Habon Mohamed

Researchers in India and Canada declared earlier this year that selection and selective abortion was resulting in the loss of 500,000girl births a year. (The lancet ,2006). Although this outraged the Indian government who described the findings as inaccurate and out of date, it sparked renewed concern about the growing use of sex selective abortions to satisfy parental preferences for sons.

India banned gender selection and selective abortion in 1994 but despite this, it is estimated that 10 million female foetuses may have been terminated in India in the last 20 years. There are now 36 million more men than women in India. (The Lancet, 2006). So why are girls not wanted and what are are the future implications of this unbalanced gender ratio for the country?

The key socioeconomic reasons behind the circumstances of women’s excess mortality in India and other Asian countries have been debated by academics since the 1980s. Caldwell presumed that increased payments of dowry cost were leading to the deterioration in the status of women. (Caldwel, 1982). The bride’s family according to Indian convention bears the major cost of the wedding. The amount of dowry given is determined by the groom’s caste, his earnings potential and the distinct needs of his family. Therefore the wealth of a bride is irrelevant in the determination of the dowry amount. The female child thus becomes an economic drain on her family.

Das Gupta highlighted the patrilineal organisation of the kinship system in Punjab, a northern state with the worst gender ratio in India. In order words inheritance happens through the male line. Women are thus not allowed to inherit or own land. The resources flow is always from the woman’s father to the man’s family. (Das Gupta, 1987).

In addition, the agrarian culture still prevalent in many parts of India remains sex specific because boys are considered to be an extra pair of hands. In this scenario men physical labour counts for more and as a result they receive better wages.

These cultural norms operating in the country reinforce the concept that sons are a financial asset by contrast to girls. A boy inherits and retains the wealth of his family and his prospective wife, gains a dowry and brings home higher wages. They are considered to be a way of securing parents care in old age.

It is within the concept mentioned above