| Manish Kamdar's Blog |
Every morning when I wake up, more often than not I see my mother. And regardless how clichéd it may sound, the morning I don't see her, my day is incomplete. I say goodbye to my little four-year-old cousin every morning, and she replies with, “Take care and be safe”. My heart is immediately filled with joy and I realize that waking up this early is worth it. However, what I am about to discuss here today makes me question these beautiful moments that I know I took for granted.
According to the data by US Census Bureau as of November 20, 2012 the world population is at count, well over 7 billion. As of 2011, the global male to Female sex ratio is 984 women to 1, 000 men. According to the United Nations Sex Demographics, this uneven demographic is a result of the 200 million girls missing in the world today. Yes, missing. And hopefully by the time I finish my oration I will have unveiled the reality and facts of GENDERCIDE, also known as Female Infanticide , an issue so neglected that the dictionary does not even recognize this term. It is important to discover why
1. so many girls are missing and from where they come,
2. discern the reasons for which they disappear, and
3. develop a matrix that just might stop this cruel injustice.
WHY ARE SO MANY GIRLS MISSING and from where do they come? The most horrific and` sickening reason of why these females are missing is female infanticide, also known as sex-selective abortion. And to paint a more vivid picture, the phrase also means to abort female fetuses at 7 to 13 weeks of gestation or to kill female infants after their birth.
This inhumane practice is conducted mostly in South West Asian Countries. And there are often very convenient procedures available to detect sex as early as seven weeks’ gestation; almost-immediately abortions eliminate the pregnancy. Through procedures such as prenatal sex discernment, quick surgical abortions, injections that induce miscarriage, over-the-counter abortive drugs or infant strangulation immediately after birth, females are eliminated. Infant strangulation is the most popular choice of quick termination because it is the most convenient way for poor families to follow the cultural tradition of gendercide. Inconceivable? I beg to differ. Such practices happen each day of every year; the act occurs not in the hundreds, not in the thousands, but in the millions. Having its origins in barbaric eras of ancient history, the one child policy allied with the social pressure to have boys has resulted in a massive imbalance in the population, especially in China, India and Pakistan. Studies have found that 40 million girls are ‘missing’ in China as a result of gender-selective abortion and infanticide. In India, there are 50 million fewer females for the same reasons.
This inhumane practice is conducted mostly in South West Asian Countries. And there are often very convenient procedures available to detect sex as early as seven weeks’ gestation; almost-immediately abortions eliminate the pregnancy. Through procedures such as prenatal sex discernment, quick surgical abortions, injections that induce miscarriage, over-the-counter abortive drugs or infant strangulation immediately after birth, females are eliminated. Infant strangulation is the most popular choice of quick termination because it is the most convenient way for poor families to follow the cultural tradition of gendercide. Inconceivable? I beg to differ. Such practices happen each day of every year; the act occurs not in the hundreds, not in the thousands, but in the millions. Having its origins in barbaric eras of ancient history, the one child policy allied with the social pressure to have boys has resulted in a massive imbalance in the population, especially in China, India and Pakistan. Studies have found that 40 million girls are ‘missing’ in China as a result of gender-selective abortion and infanticide. In India, there are 50 million fewer females for the same reasons.
All of these countries have continued to increase the imbalance in the male to female ratio demographic. UNICEF, the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION and The Independent Blog's response to the short film “It's a Girl”, agree that China and India eliminate more infants than the number of baby girls born in the US each year. When the “civilization” carries out its termination by ITS choice, it does so ONLY BECAUSE THE chosen ARE WOMEN--two XX’s on the chromosomal chain! The social order snatches massive potential to achieve and make a difference in the world. Three words caused all this commotion: “It’s a Girl”.
Why do such horrific practices still prevail in “civilizations”? Who came up with such a grotesque idea? Well, the genesis of this grotesquerie found its roots in the cultures, beliefs and social mores of the nations that practice gendercide.
Such a belief system is supposedly accurate because men are stronger and can carry the family name forward. According to Indian traditions, daughters belong to their in-laws, and there is the common practice of dowry in the rural areas. This tradition forces families to pay huge amounts of money and make gifts of other expensive goods to the daughters-in-law in order to get them married. Females are burdens and heavy responsibilities. Families are not willing to bear such weight, especially when they are poor. So, consequentially, sons are the first preference of those families: sons who are strong and can work on fields, sons who receive dowry before marriage and sons who also carry out the family name are the clear gender choice.
Pakistan’s traditional belief systems mirror those of China and India. Men are the ones who work, earn a living, carry the family name and are less of a responsibility.
So, right about now, you are probably thinking that female infanticide is a practice that belongs only to the rural areas, correct? Shockingly that is not the case. The global, tier one Webster University reports that, yes, “ . . . female infanticide cuts across all social and economic boundaries.” Thus, the practice involves a wide range of location-specific and culturally-motivated causes. In rural and poverty-stricken areas, lack of education, economic resources, and access to healthcare are factors that lead to the murder of infant girls. In urban areas, tradition dictates that the classes of elites, scholars and educated individuals choose selective abortion because those individuals have access to modern medical technology that allows for early detection of sex.
My own father lived among old world superstitions that had the power to replace forward-thinking rhetoric; in fact, when I was born prematurely at 24 weeks of gestation, only 15 years ago, he knew that my 39% chance of survival might result in physical limitations.
He knew that “traditional” views of physical and mental disabilities in Bangladesh still prevailed. Disabilities are often seen as curses from God, inflicted as retribution for the sins of the disabled person's parents.
He knew those who believed that any disability was infectious, and that having a disabled person in the house would bring on an “evil wind” that would curse others with the same conditions. In many communities, the disabled are completely neglected by their parents and left at home in a dark room all day.
As he drove the long trip through Dhaka (city) to find a proper oxygen supply for his premature daughter, as he searched for a hospital that actually had an incubator, he thought only of saving his daughter. Had my father clung to the ancient ideals, I would not sit before you today. I would not be able to alert you about the inalienable right to experience life. Across the global landscape are those who have missed out on millions of innocent smiles, on those eyes that light up the darkest rooms, on the angelic innocence of their imagination, only because some of us decided they don't deserve to live, not because they have cerebral palsy, but because they are girls!
What is the value all this information, if we don't fight to stop female infanticide? Some think, “Why should I worry? Nothing like that will ever happen in my country. Let those cultures ‘do their own thing’ Isn’t that called “self-determination?” I believe those thoughts are very wrong.
What is the value all this information, if we don't fight to stop female infanticide? Some think, “Why should I worry? Nothing like that will ever happen in my country. Let those cultures ‘do their own thing’ Isn’t that called “self-determination?” I believe those thoughts are very wrong.
The imbalance caused by female infanticide results in turbulence in the social and ethical judgment of our own society. Due to the lack of females in countries like China, India and Pakistan and males exceeding the proper age of marriage, families are now resorting to buy brides from other nations for less than a thousand dollars. In China, women are being imported from neighboring countries like the Philippine Islands, Myanmar and Vietnam so the men may marry. And if the infanticide continues to impair the male to female ratio demographic, then the practice of purchasing wives will become as open as drug-trafficking. When we look at the imploding scarcity of females, there is the distinct possibility that such purchases will become legal throughout the world. Don’t forget that throughout most of history, women generally have had fewer legal rights and career opportunities than men. Wife-hood and motherhood were regarded as women's most significant professions. In the 20th century, however, women in most nations won the right to vote and increased their educational and job opportunities. They accomplished a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society. Female infanticide threatens to move females backwards. The Women’s International Center paints a clear historical picture of those early attitudes toward women: women are a creative source of human life, but they are not only intellectually inferior to men but also a major source of temptation and evil. Pandora opened the forbidden box and brought plagues and unhappiness to mankind. Eve ate that apple! Romans described women as children, forever inferior to men. Early Christian theology perpetuated these views. St. Jerome, a 4th-century Latin father of the Christian church, said: "Woman is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of the serpent, in a word-- a perilous object."
As you all may know Feb 14 other than being Valentine's Day is also V-Day, a day to stand in protest against the injustices towards women. Don't these unborn children deserve justice? Please be aware yourself and help increase the awareness others. Fight to end female infanticide, fight for the justice of those infants whose lives are ended only because of a double X chromosome. One right voice raises many more, and silences the wrong. Let us fight for the right to live.
