31. India needs to improve on Gender Equality Issues

 [Assignment- First Two Year Batch-MEd. 2015-17

- Govt. College of Teacher Education, Thiruvananthapuram]

                                        “A family is incomplete with a woman”

Introduction

Feticide began in the early 1990s, when ultrasound techniques became widely used in India. Many families continuously produce children until a male child is born. Female feticide is the earliest and most brutal manifestation of violence against women. Researchers for The Lancet estimate that more than 500,000 girls are being lost annually through sex selective abortions. Female face many problems, which shows that there is an issue relating to gender equality.

Description

In India, violence against women can take several forms. Women of any class or religion can be victims of acid-throwing, a cruel form of punishment that can disfigure women for life and even kill them. According to perpetrators, it is an action meant to put women in their place for defying cultural norms. The U.N. Population Fund reports that up to 70 percent of married women aged 15–49 in India are victims of beatings or coerced sex. Dowry traditions, according to which parents must often pay large sums of money to marry off their daughters is claimed as one of the reasons why parents prefer boys to girls. In 1961, the government of India passed the some kinds of abuse as “bride burning” have diminished among the educated urban populations, Dowry Prohibition Act, which makes dowry demands in wedding arrangements illegal. Although many cases of dowry-related domestic violence, suicide, and murders are still occurring.

(www.theepochtimes.com/.../1987489-india-needs-to-improve-on-gender-equality-issues/).

Critical Review

In India there exist several gender issues, as almost all issues points towards women as they are considered as secondary to men. A family always prefer male child instead of female one, to look after them in the future. Female feticide is a major issue in India, it is punishable and offensive still it goes on. Increasing awareness of the problem has led to multiple campaigns by celebrities and journalists to combat sex-selective abortions. Aamir Khan devoted the first episode "Daughters Are Precious" of his show SatyamevJayate to raise awareness of this widespread practice, focusing primarily on Western Rajasthan, which is known to be one of the areas where this practice is common. Its sex ratio dropped to 883 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011 from 901 girls to 1000 boys in 2001. Rapid response was shown by local government in Rajasthan after the airing of this show, showing the effect of media and nationwide awareness on the issue. A vow was made by officials to set up fast-track courts to punish those who practice sex-based abortion. They cancelled the licenses of six sonography centers and issued notices to over 20 others.

Cultural intervention has been addressed through theatre. Plays such as 'Pacha Mannu', which is about female infanticide/feticide, has been produced by a women's theatre group in Tamil Nadu. This play was showing mostly in communities that practice female infanticide/feticide and has led to a redefinition of a methodology of consciousness raising, opening up varied ways of understanding and subverting cultural expressions. The Mumbai High Court ruled that prenatal sex determination implied female feticide. Sex determination violated a woman's right to live and was against India's Constitution. The Beti Bachao, or Save girls campaign, has been underway in many Indian communities since the early 2000s. The campaign uses the media to raise awareness of the gender disparities creating, and resulting from, sex-selective abortion. Beti Bachao activities include rallies, posters, short videos and television commercials, some of which are sponsored by state and local governments and other organizations. Many celebrities in India have publicly supported the Beti Bachao campaign.

Submitted by Mr. Shijavudden Sajad