The single most important factor in the human population is the girl child. Countries like India and China cannot claim to have a better status or treatment of girls. The preference for the males has lead to the skewed population proportions in most of the Indian states. In Indian society a girl is a liability and the boy is the most coveted one due to the family structure and social addiction. Aging parents in India lack social security, their dependence on male child in the old age creates this "boy frenzy". In many Indian religions a male child is supposed to light the funeral pier to open the gates of heaven for the deceased parent! Due to these paradigms the girls in the same family are not treated fairly and are not given the same human status.Then again, the generalizations are mostly faulty. India is a country with a wide spectrum of people. Those who are rich, their life style is very much like western families. The Indian middle class is also in par with the Western cultures; but the big section of the Indian population lives in the villages and in urban slums. This section of India is under the poverty line and this group shows the most social vices.
Most Population Scientists agree on the idea that if the girls are educated on this planet, the fertility rates will drop drastically. Becasue education brings the awareness, about self, about family size and about contraception.
In Indian philosophy there is a word called "Karma", it means "what goes around comes around". It will be worth watching how this World treats the girl child in the coming years, because that "Karma" is going to decide whether we have a planet or not!!!
2 comments:
Navdeep,
Your contention about 'The Girl Child'is absolutely right,however, I wish to add that another evil which haunts most of the Indian societies because of which a girl child is considered to be a liability is the 'dowry' practice to which even the literate class is also influenced.
While people from heigher income group can afford to give hefty dowry for their daughters but people from middle and low income groups have to resort to heavy debts to arrange for dowry for their daughter's marriage,thus giving them another reason to shun a girl child right from the begining itself.
When I posted this piece, Satwant read it and she said the same thing! She is an Anthropologist by profession so it made lot of sense!! I could have added that point but I was little lazy. Thanks for reminding me.
Thanks for nice comments!!!
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