Discrimination against Women: Before Birth / As an Infant

India has lately become infamous for its epidemic sexual violence and discrimination against
women.

But mothers may be feeling discriminated, in how they treat their daughters in the womb.

Pregnancy is taken more seriously if the pregnant women in India is carrying a boy rather than
girl in her womb.

A survey of more than 30,000 Indian by Michigan University and University of California had
revealed that preferential treatment for boy starts before they are even born.

Women expecting boys were likely to get medical treatments, taken iron supplements and
receive vital tetanus shots on time before giving birth.

They were also more likely to deliver a son in health-care facility, as opposed to at home.

It is still a common practice in India to have abortion based on sex determination of the baby,
though it is totally illegal.

Baby girls in India still face discrimination of medical treatment with serious health
consequences, when carried to full term.

Missing out the Tetanus Vaccination is particular worry as it is the main cause of death of new
born babies in India.

This could mean that baby girls are already at a serious disadvantage when they are given birth.

India is one of the few countries where males outnumber females; the sex ratio at birth (SRB) –
which shows the number of boys born to every 100 girls - is usually consistent in human
populations, where about 105 males are born to every 100 females.

There are significant imbalances in the male/female population in India where the SRB is 113;
there are also huge local differences from Northern / Western regions such as Punjab or Delhi,
where the sex ratio is as high as 125, to Southern / Eastern India e.g. Kerala and Andhra Pradesh,
where sex ratios are around 105. Though “prenatal sex discrimination” was legally banned in
1996, the law is nearly impossible to enforce and is not even familiar to all Indian families.
Hence, the preference for a male child persists, quite often out of mere practical, financial
concerns, because the parents might not be able to afford the marriage dowry for (another)
daughter. This leads to some of the most gruesome and desperate acts when it comes to gender
discrimination:

 Selective abortions
 Murdering of female babies
 Abandonment of female babies
Prenatal tests to determine the sex of the fetus were criminalized by Indian law in 1994, but the
above mentioned imbalances in the sex ratio at birth, clearly point to gender selective abortions.
While abortion is officially illegal in India there are some exceptions to this rule such as the
failure of contraceptive device used by a couple; if the woman was raped; or if the child would
suffer from severe disabilities. In total 11 million abortions take place annually and around
20,000 women die every year due to abortion related complications.

Workforce participation

Women at work carrying bricks

Contrary to common perception, a large percentage of women in India work. National data
collection agencies accept that statistics seriously understate women's contribution as workers.
However, there are far fewer women than men in the paid workforce. In urban India, women
participate in the workforce in impressive numbers. For example, in the software industry 30%
of the workforce is female. In the workplace women enjoy parity with their male counterparts in
terms of wages and roles.

In rural India in the agriculture and allied industrial sectors, females account for as much as
89.5% of the labour force. In overall farm production, women's average contribution is estimated
at 55% to 66% of the total labour. According to a 1991 World Bank report, women accounted for
94% of total employment in dairy production in India. Women constitute 51% of the total
employed in forest-based small-scale enterprises.

One of the most famous female business success stories is the Shri Mahila Griha Udyog, Lijjat
Papad. In 2006, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who founded Biocon, one of India's first biotech
companies, was rated India's richest woman.
While sex-selective abortion is illegal in India, the 2011 census shows an alarming decline in the
child sex ratio in India which is dropped in 2011 to 914 from 927 in 2001. The decline in the sex
ratio in the age group from 0-6 years is an extremely distressing trend.

Nearly 3 million girls, one million more than the boys, were “missing” in 2011 compared with
2001 and there are now 48 fewer girls per 1000 boys than there were in 1981 according to
Central Statistical Organisation.

In Asia and South Asian countries, a girl is seen as the burden on the whole family; like on the
birth of a boy child celebration is there, nobody celebrate the birth of a girl child. But some of
the parents who didn’t think about such things celebrate the birth of new baby girl in their family
so that others can also stop thinking about such rubbish things.

There is a mindset that the male child will go on to become a source of income from the family
and will carry on the family linage while the girl child will have to be ultimately married off to
another family.

These huge number of missing girls highlights a culture where far too often girls and women are
seen, and treated, as inferior. However discrimination against women and girls takes place across
the globe.

In many cases police official put pressure on the victims and their families to keep silent or even
marry their rapist to avoid prosecution.

Patriarchal setup of the Indian society

For ages, men have continued to dominate societal and family life in India. While this scenario is
changing with increasing levels of female literacy rate and urbanization in the Indian society , in
the hinterlands men continue to dominate the social life. Discrimination against the females
begins when they are girls. Parents often don’t send girls to school while boys in the family are
provided full access to education. Many who are sent to school are asked to dropout and help
their mothers in household work. Parents spend time in grooming girls for becoming good wives
and concentrate very little on providing them good learning and knowledge.

Elders of the family hold the view that girls have to be eventually married off to another family
and there is no point in spending much on their education. Education for boys, on the other hand,
is seen as an investment as they are viewed as future “earning members” of the family. Girls are
only considered fit for performing household work. It is this mindset which needs to change so
that girls are not denied their chance to learn and grow in life.
How educating girls can go a long way in addressing gender discrimination in India

Educating is an immensely powerful tool through which an individual can make it big in life.
Education is an enabler. When children go to school and learn well, they build their
comprehension and problem-solving skills and are enabled to take right decisions in life. They
grow up into mature and responsible adults who can contribute better to their own and society’s
well-being. But it’s a sad reality that girls in India are denied a chance at learning. This is a
dysfunction in the Indian society which needs to now stop. When girls are educated, the benefits
are even better and much more permeating. An educated, well-read woman in the household
ensures that other members (especially her children) are not deprived of access to quality
education.

When girls get the right education, they get a great start in life and go on to become educated
women who are all set to attain economic independence and be rightly equipped to make a
contribution to their own upliftment as well as that of the society they are part of. Educated girls
and women can march along with men in every sphere of life and not lag behind in any way.
Education is also instrumental in bringing down child marriages, maternal mortality, domestic
violence and combating other women-related issues.

Girls must be given better education like other boys.

The role of NGOs in educating girls

Committed to uplifting the girl child, NGOs like Save the Children are bringing hope in the lives
of thousands of girls in India by giving them the right environment and opportunities to learn and
gain knowledge. The work begins by going among the most backward communities (socially as
well as economically) and helping them understand and realise why it is important that girls go
to school and stay there. Thereafter, assessments are done in the area and out-of-school and
vulnerable children are mapped. Save the Children then engages extensively with children and
they are groomed and prepared to take the leap to formal schooling. In several Kasturba Gandhi
BalikaVidyalayas in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, the NGO is ensuring that girls get holistic
education and thus is improving school infrastructure and building a better learning environment.
Donate to the NGO today and help more girls in India realize their dreams of reaching school.

Dowry Tradition

Much of the discrimination against women arises from India's dowry tradition, where the bride's
family gives the groom's family money and/or gifts. Dowries were made illegal in India in 1961,
however the law is almost impossible to enforce, and the practice persists for most marriages.
Unfortunately, the iniquitous dowry system has even spread to communities who traditionally
have not practiced it, because dowry is sometimes used as a means to climb the social ladder, to
achieve economic security, and to accumulate material wealth. The model used to calculate the
dowry takes the bridegroom's education and future earning potential into account while the
bride's education and earning potential are only relevant to her societal role of being a better wife
and mother. The bridegroom's demand for a dowry can easily exceed the annual salary of a
typical Indian family, and consequently be economically disastrous especially in families with
more than one or two daughters.

Conclusion

Gender discrimination in India is a reality which cannot be conveniently ignored. Driving a

change in the mindset of people is the key to end this discrimination. Our girls deserve equal
opportunities as boys. Government’s flagship scheme ‘BetiBachao, BetiPadhao’ will go a long
way in ensuring this. Save the Children fully supports Government of India’s ‘BetiBachao,
BetiPadhao’ movement and is committed to give Indian girls a future to look forward to.

REFERENCE:-

http://saarthakindia.org/womens_situation_India.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/03/28/175594992/in-india-
discrimination-against-women-can-start-in-the-womb

https://www.savethechildren.in/articles/gender-discrimination-in-the-indian-
society

https://www.scribd.com/document/207821937/Discrimination-Against-Women