Gender Bias a crisis to India

Years ago a girl child was considered a taboo. A mother delivering a girl was shunned by the society and by her family members. If the girl child was lucky enough to be allowed to live there was open discrimination between the children in the family. The boys got all the attention and privileges of education and good food. While the girl child was deprived even of the basic necessities like nutrition, education and living standard. A son was considered the rightful heir and successor of the family.

Does that sound weird? Yes that’s right, it’s because this situation still prevails in our country. Every day we read news of some father deliberately denying treatments or food to his daughter and making the killing look a ‘natural death’. If the father is more aggressive he goes to the extent of completing the act by brutally killing the girl with his own hands. Parents abandon their girl child on the streets disowning them completely while fight with the Hospital authorities for the custody of a boy child handed to them by mistake. Such atrocious behaviour is unthinkable and cruel.

There are numerous illegal maternity clinics operating in remote places of our country where the doctor ‘helps’ the parents to determine the sex of the foetus and aborts the female ones if the parents desire. Everyone knows this is a crime and morally wrong too yet this is being practiced even in the cities in a hushed up environment. Girls are looked upon as an unwanted burden, a thankless responsibility as unlike the sons who would carry on the family’s name. A great amount of money would be required to be arranged to get them married.

Spreading awareness and education to the interiors of villages where people still believe in this myth of a girl being the unwanted burden and practice of girl killing should be initiated with a fervour. More centres and associations for protecting the girl child and creating awareness of the crime need to be opened all across the country. Unless harsh punishments and strong actions are not taken against the offender this practice would still prevail. There should not be any bias between a girl and a boy child and both of them should be given equal rights. Although it might seem to be a difficult task to eradicate this deep rooted practice nothing is impossible and we need to start somewhere. After all it is the girl who is the real home maker and care taker of the house.

We need to do a lot more to sensitize the society towards the value of a girl child. Don’t they realize that a girl child is a future to mankind? Decreasing number of girls is a cause of serious concern as it causes an imbalance to nature. People committing such horrendous crimes need to be severely penalized. It is the responsibility of every individual to be alert and attentive and bring such cases to the open whenever they come across girl killing happening around them.

Zero tolerance towards female foeticide should be implemented as a strict norm which would be beneficial for a better future of the country and to humanity. Our Country is growing dynamically in all fields and is witnessing advancements rapidly. But unfortunately bias against the girl child is still prevailing. If India truly aspires to be the super power it needs to appreciate the true value of a woman.