save the girl child, sex selection bias, hazards to community, for obstetricians

1. Dr varsha deshmukh
Asso prof, obgy dept
GMCH,A’BAD
Sex selection bias-its implications

2. Child sex Ratio
India and Maharashtra, 1971-2001
Falling sex ratio-status of woman in society

3. Why?
Neglect for females,high mortality rates
Female foeticide
Lower status of woman
Physical insecurity
Dowry
Misuse of PNDT
Ineffective implementation of law

4. While sex ratio is abysmally low in the
affluent States of Punjab, Gujarat,
Haryana, Delhi and even the
commercial capital of the Country,
Mumbai and people here don’t desire
girls….

5. T ribals seem civilized - they value
girls…
South Sikkim has the highest sex ratio in the 0-6 age group. It
has 1036 females per 1000 males. Upper Siang of Arunachal,
has 1018 females in the same age group. Then comes
Rajnandangaon, a district from the tribal state of Chattisgarh.
The sex ratio here is 990. In Gumla district of Jharkhand, the
sex ratio is a respectable 977. Nandurbar has a CSR of 961
and Gadchiroli a CSR of 966

6. Why are daughters unwanted?

7. Understanding the practice
Gender is a social construct
Norms, expectations, behaviors, roles for men and women
in society are prescribed
Women have less access to
productive resources, assets,
decision-making , mobility
Unequal power
relations
between men
and women
Subordinate
status for
women making
them vulnerable
Unequal
treatment,
discrimination,
denial of rights
in education
health
inheritance etc.
VAW including sex selection is
another manifestation of this
inequality , used as a tool to
reinforce norms and maintain this
inequity in society.

8. Son Preference and Daughter Aversion
Advertisements like: Spend Rs.5000 today
and save Rs.5 Lakhs tomorrow are not uncommon

9. HOW DESPERATE?

10. Son preference
8 girls in family
Substandard living
No schooling
Poverty stricken
WAITING FOR BOY

11. SON PREFERENCE
4 GIRLS in the family
Mother would not hold
The fourth girl
Overwhelmed with grief
Cursing herself

12. Son preference
‘’instead of suffering the way I do,
It is better that she dies”
Wish of a mother of 4children

13. Son preference
Two wives
1)Second marriage for a male baby
2)Second marriage for a baby girl
As first wife had 7 sons
“want somebody to help in kitchen”
Fate of innocent female child unborn

14. Against saner judgement
Bani has conceived 11
times till date. While five
of these ended in
miscarriages, six of her
daughters are alive.
Feeling she is too poor to
opt for any sex-selective
techniques, she continues
to try for a male child
even though she has been
medically advised against
it.

15. Ruhani
After the accidental death of her
only child, an 18-year-old son,
Shweta was desperate for another
one. On the advice of a 'baba', she
had a concoction of peacock
feathers, gold ash and other such
ingredients known to be laced with
unhealthy arsenic levels. She did
have a son, but due to a fusion
deformity he was stillborn.
In a desperate attempt to have a son

16. Ridiculous!
Mothers to-be praying
hard for
MALE BABY
To make roots strong in
family OR
EDUCATED,CAREER
DRIVEN woman secretly
praying for a male baby

17. Why have all the
girls disappeared?

18. Girls are considered an aversion
because…
Girls are considered
paraya dhan. They have to
be married off
Universality of marriage
and stigma attached to
being unmarried
Practice of dowry

19. Girls are considered an
aversion
Secondary status to woman
Patriarchial framework of society
Funeral lit by son,not by daughter
Daughter cant carry the ancesteral line
No inheritance rights
‘’paraya dhan’’therefore cant support parents in old age

20. Boys are preferred
Reasons of lineage
Salvation can be
attained only if son
performs last rites
Old age support

21. Other Reasons
Desire to have small families but not without sons
Two child norm imposed by certain State Governments
combined with strong son preference
Easy accessibility to technology for sex determination at
affordable prices.
Name of Paper : THE INDIAN EXPRESS
Published at : MUMBAI
Dated : 15th
July 2006

22. result
Because of wrong mentality ,homes are destroyed,poverty
ridden families
Complicated health history due to too many
labors/deliveries

23. IS IT TRUE?

24. Breaking the myth – do sons really care for parents in old age
Ruhani
Phoolwati and Dharam
had celebrated the birth
of their sons with
grandeur, relieved that
burapa me sahara hoga. - Even
though both their sons
live in the same village,
neither have looked in on
them in the last 20 years.
They have now resigned
to the unthinkable future
of living in their
daughters house

25. Time to wake up!
Girls are blessings for this generation
Not less important than a boy
Can support families if needed
Working women paying bills and
reducing financial burden

26. The implications!

27. Implications of declining sex
ratio
Increase in violence against women and denial of basic
rights to them.
Increase in sex related crimes (rape, abduction,
polyandry)
Impacts health of women especially reproductive health
of women who are forced to go in for repeated
pregnancies and abortions
Increase in sexual exploitation of women and thereby
increase in cases of RTI/STD, HIV/AIDS

28. implications
Social insecurity-rape, abduction, eveteasing, molestation
Early marriages
Less likely to finish school,skillful jobs
Teenage pregnancy-imcrease maternal morbidity
Domestic voilence,purchase of brides

29. An example of the implications of
declining sex ratio
In Dang district, Gujarat-Rajasthan border, 8 brothers of the
same family are married to Sarup, in the centre. Getting a wife is extremely
difficult in this region—Sept. 2001, India Today

30. Another example
Name of Paper : THE TIMES OF INDIA
Published at : NEW DELHI
Dated : 7th
March 2006

31. and another
“ D evra village of Jaisalm er district has the distinction of
receiving a baraat (bridegroom ’s party) after 110 years in
1997, when Jaswant K anwar got m arried. W om an in the centre
is the m other of Jaswant K anwar.”
Anuradha D utt, T he Pioneer, O ctober 28, 2001

33. Its time WE awaken to this
reality

34. implications
Prostitution
STD
Crime
Voilence
dowry

35. The Law
Maharashtra was first
State to enact
Maharashtra regulation of
use of PNDT Act in 1987
PNDT Act was passed in
1994
Act was amended in 2003
to include Pre conception
techniques (PCPNDT
Act)

36. What can we as individuals do
Value and celebrate the girl child in our family and
community
Stop sympathizing with the perpetrators, doing so would
only justify the crime and lead to discrimination against
daughters
Break the silence around the issue and impress upon people
that times have changed

37. To summarize…
Deal with mindsets
Enforce the Law
Appropriate policy measures for girls and women
Leverage civil society/community efforts

38. Ghar ki laxmi-betiya
Any progressive law in isolation cannot resolve this social
problem
Unlike dowry,sati,child marriage-this issue has an additional
player-DOCTOR-dirty games
Needed-legal action,awareness campaign,suitable policy
intervention

39. Pledge your support – It would make
all the difference

40. Let girls live

41. Let us return their smile
AM I ALONE?

42. NO
THE GOVERNMENT
CIVILISED SOCIETY
WE ALL
SLOWLY BUT SURELY
ARE WITH YOU TO JOIN
HANDS IN YHIS
MISSION

43. RESTORE THE BALANCE
SAVE THE GIRL CHILD