Dark Horse Arts and Sciences

Indian society is a male dominated society wherein the status of women is secondary. Women are meant to be confined within the four walls of the house and are subject to utter mental pain and isolation. They aren’t allowed to take part in social activities as they’re burdened with the heavy responsibilities of family and children. Though we’re in the 21st century where women go hand in hand with their male counterparts, it seems as if we’re still in those 80’s or 90’s when women were tortured the most.
The biggest example of torturing of women is female foeticide, which is, the killing of the fetus of an unborn child growing in the mother’s womb. These days, by the help of ultrasonography, many stupid parents determine the sex of their baby to-be-born. If it’s a boy, all’s well; if it’s not, they’ll go for an abortion murdering the fetus of the girl child before her birth. Most of the parents have a misconception that a son will look after them during their final days, whereas a daughter won’t be present with them,as she’d be then taking care of her in-laws. The sons have also the rights of rituals of their parents after their death, which the daughters don’t have.
Another principal reason of female foeticide is the dowry system. Many parents don’t want any girl child for this corrupted custom as in this custom the bride’s family has to fulfil all the demands of the groom’s family after her marriage. If they don’t, then they have to face the rudity of their in-laws. Sometimes the groom’s family demands such things which are out of the reach of the bride’s. In this case, the bride’s family can’t fulfill their in-laws’ demand, as a result of which their daughter has to face both physical and mental abuse; sometimes they burn her; sometimes they kill her, ony for the sake of some rupees. So, in order not to indulge in all these complexities, finally the parents to-be decide not to have a girl child in the first place. If by chance, they come to know about it, they’ll opt for an abortion.
According to statistics, the northern Indian states have a high percentage of female foeticide. Of these states, Uttar Pradesh is on the top, followed by its neighbour Bihar, where most people live on superstitions and misconceptions. The biggest culprits in female foeticide are parents who enact all these by the help of corrupted doctors who determine the sex of the baby in exchange of large amount of money.
Now-a-days, people have become crazy about male child. They can’t understand the importance of a female child. They can’t realize that girls are always equal to boys. In their old ages, their son may forget them, isolate them in a lonely house on a death bed and romance with his wife; but their daughter would never abandon them. She’d always be there for them, even though she has many responsibilities of her own. It’s unknown to these people that girls can do anything, even they can move mountains if they’re given the right opportunity. They have the potential, capacity and energy to face any obstacle coming on their way.
So, it’s all about realization that girls are equivalent to boys in every quality- be it studies or sports or arts or anything. We should recognize the fact that they are our mothers, without whom we wouldn’t be here in the first place. They are our sisters and friends who are the closest to us. They are our wives, with whom we spend our life and share our ups and downs. So, how can we be involved in such an offense in which we’re killing them before they’re even born? But we can’t make someone realize something forcefully, instead realization emerges from within; automatically and spontaneously.
The government should also look into this matter and create mass awareness by organizing programes that reflect upon this issue. The government should try their best to educate each and every child living in any corner of the nation, which is of course an uphill task in itself in a populated country like ours. They should introduce this topic in school books so that children can learn and think about it. On the other hand, the doctors involved in all this corrupt practices must be punished hard so that no one would ever think of committing such a crime. The media should also highlight these issues on thier channels instead of all the India-Pakistan stuff.