Female Infanticide One

Last week in police uncovered over 50 discarded female fetuses at the bottom of a well in Punjab. It has sparked an aggressive statewide crackdown on at illegal clinics across the country and exposed how corrupt government officials have been helping protect illegal clinics. According to the article in the BBC, there are 776 girls born for every 1000 boys in the Punjab--it's a birthrate that is entirely attributable to female infanticide.Between female infanticide and illegal clinical trials (as in letrozol in 2003 and possibly cyclopamine) fertility clinics across India have become houses of death that are severely weakening the future of this country. While I am going to continue to search out problems in underground clinics in Chennai, I have an idea that could help Punjab out of its woes.

The response to female infanticide in the state government has been to "crack down" on clinics that provide the services and stop them from operating. They assume that if they cut off access to the technology then the practice will be forced to stop. It's a good plan except it does not take into account the myriad of other ways that women occupy a low social rung.

The problem basically stems from a dowry system that cripples families' incomes. The poor often have no other choice than to get rid of a child who they know will eventually cost them a lot of money. And if they can't have abortions, the might sell the child into slavery or kill her after birth. The answer can be found not in policing the problem, but by publicizing the extent of it.

Now that the gender disparity has shown up with so many more boys than girls, it seems logical that female children should be seen as valuable commodities. Since every girl will be able to find a partner, 1 out of every 5 men will go marriage-less (according to the statistics).

In fact, because the numbers are so drastic, it is possible that 10 years down the line women will be in a position to demand dowry from men, not the other way around. It comes down to economics. The supply of women is short, so their demand has to rise.I think there should be a massive public awareness campaign about the extent of the problem that doesn't only attack people for aborting female fetuses, but makes them aware that the problem is so advanced that in the future female children will be more valuable than boys. If enough people know that the birth ratio should right itself and women may even begin to occupy higher positions in the social milieu.