How Could Female Empowerment Lower Female Selective Abortions in India - Essay Example

How could female empowerment lower Female Selective Abortions in India? India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and its growth has fascinated a large number of people from all over the world. However, India also suffers from a problem known as female selective abortion (FSA) and this is a problem which is becoming even more rampant as the years go by. FSA is the abortion of the unborn fetus mainly because through an ultrasound, it has been found to be female. This form of abortion has developed in recent years mainly because of the fact that most Indians have come to prefer male to female offspring. This has created a situation where the survival rate of female children has dropped and with ever decreasing numbers, India is facing a demographic challenge in the near future. One of the main reasons behind the development of FSA in India, when compared to other countries, is the fact that the whole issue is fundamentally cultural. The sad reality of this situation, however is that it has become a part of the basic mentality of Indians to favor male children to female ones and it is yet to be seen how this problem is going to be tackled to ensure that it is brought to a conclusive end. Female empowerment is one of the greatest means through which the female children of India can be protected from FSA. This is mainly because with the empowerment of women, they can be able to make the choice not to succumb to pressure to abort their female children as a means of meeting the expectations of their families (Patel, 2007). One of the reasons why FSA has become extremely common in India is mainly because most marriages in the country demand that the woman’s family gives a dowry to the family of her future husband. Most of the dowries demanded are so high that they consist of some six times the annual income of the bride’s family. This form of expenditure is one of the most devastating challenges to the survival of the girl child, who is normally considered to be a liability rather than an equal member of the family. The result has been that there as developed a mentality of aversion against girl children with some families actively pressuring the women in their midst to undergo ultrasounds to know the sex of the child. If it is not the desired male child, it has become the norm among a large number of Indian women to choose FSA as a means of ending the life of the unborn child. It is for this reason that the empowerment of women in India has to be given the highest priority because it this is not done, then the women might end up being the losers in the long run. Women have to be empowered to such an extent that they are able to resist the pressure that they have to bear from their families to terminate their pregnancies. In this way, the true value of women will come to the fore, resulting in massive resistance to FSA, and because of this resistance, this despicable act will be brought to an end. The biggest fear that has brought about the development of FSA in India is the belief by prospective parents that they will not be able to have a daughter who has the beauty required for marriage. The fear is that if their daughter is not of sufficient beauty, her husband-to-be will be obliged to ask for a higher dowry as compensation. For a family which is poor, this would be an unthinkable situation mainly because they would be barely able to afford the dowry. It is for this reason that many of them prefer boys because the latter, they believe, ensure not only their financial security but also that they will be well taken care of in their old age (Jha, Kesler, Kumar, Ram, Ram, Aleksandrowicz, Banthia, 2011). This type of mentality can only be brought to an end through the empowerment of women, especially through education. It is a fact that women who are highly educated are at a lesser risk of going through with FSA than those who are not and this is mainly because of the fact that they are better informed not only of their own worth but also the worth of their female children. The result of such a circumstance would be that if the women felt that their unborn child was at risk due to pressure from her husband or family to commit an abortion, such women would rather leave the marriage and live independently than allow themselves to undergo FSA. The ability of women to become free thinkers will also make them and their families to realize that the payment of dowry is an outdated concept which does not add value in any way to the marriage. There will also be the realization that the payment of dowry relegates women from being independent human beings to mere objects, being the property of their husbands and fathers. The empowerment of women will ensure that women become more than the financial liability that their families consider them to be and will instead make them into valued members of the society. The practice of FSA is normally encouraged by the compliance of those doctors who agree to conduct it. Despite the fact that this practice is illegal in India, it is still conducted in the underground and this is mainly because of the high demand that these doctors have for their services (Patel, 2007). The lack of independence among women is one of the reasons why they are often forced, or at times become involved, out of fear, in FSA. It has been found that a large number of women tend to terminate multiple pregnancies before they get the desired boy child and this act is more often than not detrimental to both their physical and mental health. Even in some of those circumstances where women choose to keep their female children, it has become common for these children to be extremely maltreated by their mothers, who feel ashamed of their female children since the latter are considered to be an additional financial burden on their families. The desire to have male children has further led to the degradation of female children and this is one of the reasons why it is important to provide individuals with the information that all children are equal. These initiatives should also be accompanied by those that empower women because this is the only way through which the majority of female Indian children can be saved from FSA. The decision to protect female children through the empowerment of women, especially their mothers, is one of the reasons why these initiatives should be put in place, especially by the government, to ensure that the children are protected from FSA. As has been seen above, female empowerment is extremely important as a means of protecting female children in India against FSA. This is because the empowerment of women enables them to make the choice not to succumb to pressure to abort their female children as a means of meeting the expectations of their families. Moreover there is the fear among many parents that if their daughter is not of sufficient beauty, her husband-to-be will be obliged to ask for a higher dowry as compensation. Thus, the empowerment of women will ensure that women become more than the financial liability that their families consider them to be, and will instead make them into valued members of the society. References Jha, P., Kesler, M. A., Kumar, R., Ram, F., Ram, U., Aleksandrowicz, L., Banthia, J. K. (2011). Trends in selective abortions of girls in india: Analysis of nationally representative birth histories from 1990 to 2005 and census data from 1991 to 2011. The Lancet, 377(9781), 1921-8. Patel, V. (2007). SEX SELECTIVE ABORTION IN INDIA: Gender, society and new reproductive technologies. Pacific Affairs, 80(2), 394-396. Read More