Despite rapid growth, India lets its girls die

[onehandle]

Source: AP

MORENA, India – The room is large and airy, the stone floors clean and cool — a welcome respite from the afternoon sun. Until your eyes take in the horror that it holds. Ten severely malnourished children — nine of them girls. The starving girls in this hospital ward include a 21-month-old with arms and legs the size of twigs and an emaciated 1-year-old with huge, vacant eyes. Without urgent medical care, most will not live to see their next birthday.

They point to a painful reality revealed in India's most recent census: Despite a booming economy and big cities full of luxury cars and glittering malls, the country is failing its girls. Early results show India has 914 girls under age 6 for every 1,000 boys. A decade ago, many were horrified when the ratio was 927 to 1,000. The discrimination happens through abortions of female fetuses and sheer neglect of young girls, despite years of high-profile campaigns to address the issue. So serious is the problem that it's illegal for medical personnel to reveal the gender of an unborn fetus, although evidence suggests the ban is widely circumvented.

"My mother-in-law says a boy is necessary," says Sanju, holding her severely malnourished 9-month-old daughter in her lap in the hospital. She doesn't admit to deliberately starving the girl but only shrugs her own thin shoulders when asked why her daughter is so sick. She will try again for a son in a year or two, she says.

Part of the reason Indians favor sons is the enormous expense in marrying off girls. Families often go into debt arranging marriages and paying elaborate dowries. A boy, on the other hand, will one day bring home a bride and dowry. Hindu custom also dictates that only sons can light their parents' funeral pyres.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110504/ap_on_re_as/as_india_no_country_for_little_girls

[RKP5637]

1. The "Stupid" is soooooo great in the world. Earth = "Planet of The Stupids."

[defendandprotect]

15. +1000% --

and sadder still is how women become brainwashed in male-supremacist societies

to carry out the very discriminations put in place to destroy their gender!

[BOG PERSON]

23. "male supremacist"

the word you are looking for is "patriarchal" - that would describe most societies in the world today.

[defendandprotect]

32. Patriarchy is underpinned by Organized patrarichal religion -- i.e., male-supremacist

religion --


Patriarchy -- and its underpinning =

Organized Patriarchal Religion -- and its economic invention =

Capitalism =

The Unholy Trinity


Capitalism was invented by the Vatican when Feudalism was no longer sufficient

to run their Papal States --

Fascism is first noted in Northern Italy --

Christianity is the basis for corporations --


Have some articles/links if you want them --

but patriarchy and male-supremacy are basically the same thing.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Girls are the true "Untouchables".

[PassingFair]

3. My daughter did a one-year student exchange in India 4 years ago...

She had her 16th birthday there.

There are many things she loved about India,
but she says it's a terrible place to be a woman
and she has no desire to live there.
Her host family didn't treat her very well, but
luckily she bonded with the host mother of another
exchange student.
Her actual host family only accepted her because
they had to TAKE a student if they wanted their
SON to have an exchange.
Our Rotary Exchange group had about 100 girls and
maybe 10 boys, so India had to take some girls, which
they were not thrilled to do.

They should find a way to end the dowry system.

[trud]

4. sounds like a good reason not to get married

Women can work in India, yes? So they can support themselves and possibly help support their parents.

(What happens with the funeral pyre if there is no son?)

[fujiyama]

8. Sati, has been banned for a long time now

I wouldn't be surprised if it occurs in rare cases in backwater villages, but fortunately that's one practice that's rare.

[fujiyama]

7. I'd be curious which part of India it was

and whether it was an urban or rural area.

From what I can tell, there are discrepancies between the different regions in how women are treated. Regardless, it's shocking and unacceptable that this is going on in the 21st century, in a rapidly developing country with aspirations to be a global power. India leaders should be especially aware of a gender imbalance, which can have major consequences - and are already having an impact in some states.

It's interesting you mention the dowry system, which like caste discrimination, is officially banned in India, but enforcement of such laws is lax, if nonexistent throughout many parts of the country.

[PassingFair]

10. She was in Pune, "The Oxford of India".

Her host family was very wealthy...she described
them as "the Beverly Hillbillies of Pune".

They were 1st generation out of the "village" and
her host mother did not speak Hindi or English.

Her host father was in construction...he built
apartment buildings. When she first got there, she
thought they were middle-class, then she caught on
that all of their visitors that came and went
were borrowing money!

The month before she left, the family moved into the
penthouse of one of their new buildings, and my daughter
realized just how wealthy they were!

The host family has 2 sons and a daughter. The oldest
son worked in the family construction business, the daughter
was in college and the youngest son was on an exchange in the US.

My daughter bonded with the 12-year old servant, but he was
sent back to the village once his father's job on the new
apartments was finished.

The servant's family lived in the garage area of the new building
until it was completed.

My daughter had exchange friends that lived in more remote cities,
and their freedom was pretty restricted.

The host family pretty much gave up on trying to treat my daughter
as a dutiful Indian daughter (she refused to stay inside while
she was on her period) and let her go her own way.

Crazy.

I would still recommend Rotary Exchange, because the group meetings
mean all the families are accountable for their students.

[BOG PERSON]

21. yes, when people talk up india's diversity and tolerance

they mean "diversity" of standards and "tolerance" of oppression.

[Vehl]

47. yey! we have a winner!

you get the first prize for the broadest brush generalization in DU today :)

By your same yardstick, America is a land of Bible thumpers and Pro lifers.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

53. On DU, broad brushes are okay regarding India.

The crap people spout here regarding Indians would be quickly shut down by DUers and the admins if directed at any other group.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

51. Yes, that must be it.

It has nothing to do with the wide variety of coexisting religions (everything from Hinduism to Christianity) and being the world's biggest democracy.

[Vehl]

46. +1 nt

[Bluenorthwest]

5. But I have been told that all Straights are 'Sanctified by God'

and their 'Unions' are made by his very hand. Hard to see that such beliefs are grounded in any form of reality. If God is in the mix, as Woody Allen says, God must be an underachiever.

[Atypical Liberal]

6. This will be a self-correcting problem.

When enough men can't find women to marry, the men will start paying the dowries.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[defendandprotect]

16. No -- if you read the article, they have been preventing anyone disclosing gender of the fetus --

Meanwhile, Indian's population is now 1.21 billion --

imagine where they'd be without abortion!

The problem is a male-supremacist society -- with RELIGION being the underpinning for that!!

[AngryAmish]

22. It is illegal to do this, but the law is widely ignored

[defendandprotect]

25. .... and is male-supremacist religion in India seeking more enforcement of the law?

What is male-supremacist religion saying to India?

Anything new?

The female population anywhere should be a minumum of 54% -- but more likely

57% -- nature favors women. Women contribute 57% of the DNA to a child when

you consider Mitochondria. Males contribute 43%.


NATURE IS ALSO PRO-CHOICE --

Nature has provided myriad ways for women to control reproduction -- to erase

pregnancies -- to incrase or end fertility at any time they wish.

Most of those plants/drugs which Nature provided women were destroyed by patriarchy --

along with the information about them -- i.e., "women's wisdom/wicca" --

Although some of the wisdom does survive -- RU486 is based on a plant which keeps

the fertilized egg from adhering to the lining of the womb.


Wherever we look at the male war on Nature we see the effort and bare reality that

is about trying to control females -- in order to control reproduction --

This battle by male-supremacist religion goes on today still -- see the US Catholic

Bishops' efforts in the last health care go-around -- though Catholic women all over the world

have just as many abortions as any other women!

And, although Catholics supported single payer/government run health care by 73% --

83% when Latino/Latina Catholics were included!!

And that included reproductive health care by high percentages -- including condoms to prevent

AIDS, sex education -- and simply choice by 53%.



For another source on this ... See: Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" --

[AngryAmish]

27. Perhaps, but one thing you need to think about:

In the works of Spelling, a predominant concept is the distinction between figure and ground. Therefore, many discourses concerning the absurdity, and therefore the dialectic, of subtextual reality exist. The characteristic theme of the works of Spelling is a self-referential paradox.

The primary theme of McElwaine’s essay on capitalist theory is the absurdity, and some would say the paradigm, of cultural sexual identity. In a sense, any number of dematerialisms concerning realism may be revealed. Sartre suggests the use of neodialectic situationism to modify class.

“Society is intrinsically a legal fiction,” says Marx; however, according to Brophy , it is not so much society that is intrinsically a legal fiction, but rather the stasis of society. It could be said that the premise of capitalist theory states that class has intrinsic meaning. Lacan uses the term ‘pretextual desublimation’ to denote the common ground between truth and class.

But the closing/opening distinction which is a central theme of Rushdie’s The Ground Beneath Her Feet emerges again in Midnight’s Children. The main theme of the works of Rushdie is not narrative per se, but subnarrative.

In a sense, Dahmus implies that we have to choose between capitalist theory and cultural dematerialism. Conceptualist pretextual theory states that culture is part of the absurdity of art, given that Foucault’s model of neomodernist capitalism is valid.

But the characteristic theme of Sargeant’s critique of conceptualist pretextual theory is the stasis, and some would say the paradigm, of materialist class. The subject is interpolated into a realism that includes truth as a reality.

Therefore, Baudrillard uses the term ‘capitalist theory’ to denote not narrative, but neonarrative. Debord promotes the use of realism to challenge class divisions.

[defendandprotect]

31. Capitalism is the invention of male-supremacist religion ....

Patriarchy -- and its underpinning =

Organized Patriarchal Religion -- and its economic invention =

Capitalism =

The Unholy Trinity

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[defendandprotect]

39. Only YOU are suggesting such nonsense --

And, yes -- patriarchy precedes capitalism -- as I made clear ...

Patriarchy/Organized patriarchal religion INVENTED capitalism!!

Try actually reading the post -- it works better that way!!

[Zorra]

11. More bigotry, horrible suffering, and death because of insane religious dogma.

It just never stops.

[BOG PERSON]

20. i don't know if you can call the dowry system a "religious dogma"

[defendandprotect]

28. Inability to divorce is certainly "a religious issue" which bears on this one ....

Looks like the dowry system has been distorted and abused --

Well, look at "The Quiet Man" which was about Ireland -- the dowry was used to

keep her from a love match because the brother disdained her choice.

As far as I can see, it's patriarchal nonsense and bargaining -- and even in

wealthier families brides can either be provided with guaranteed income by the

family taking her in -- or her family, if it is the wealthier one -- may spread

its largess among the groom's family. If you've ever watched "Upstairs/Downstairs"

re Great Britain, you see that the bride went with "gifts" of household help --

and often property.


This link offers an apology for the system -- while pointing out the distortions --

but it's always based in male-supremacist thinking ---

http://www.pardesiservices.com/tradition/arrangedmarg.asp



Overall, organized patriarchal religion is, of course, the underpinning for patriarchy.

[Zorra]

41. OK. Substitute "wacko religious customs and traditions" stemming

from ancient times if you like.

http://www.mahavidya.ca/dharma-and-the-individual/the-hindu-dowry-system-origins/

[defendandprotect]

42. +1 ---

[iandhr]

12. only one words describes this.

SICK

[jwirr]

13. And while this is going on our American companies continue to

outsource jobs to this country. Back when apartheid existed in Africa many American companies were investing in that country but finally people here in America told them we would boycott any product from there unless they demanded an end to apartheid. I don't think that the companies today are moral enough to even considering making civil rights one of the conditions for doing business in a country like this.

[defendandprotect]

17. +1 --

[iandhr]

They are to blind to see that...

...while the profit-margine might be temporally hurt, a company that takes moral stand against this kind of barbaric behavior receives good will and good PR. That good will might translate into more customers.

[iandhr]

18. they are to blind to see that.

While the profit-margine might be temporally hurt taking a company that takes moral stand against this kind of barbaric behavior receives good will PR. That good will might translate into more customers.

[JI7]

30. actually the areas most jobs are outsourced to are less likely to have these problems

also apartheid was Govt policy. that is not the case here.

[Vehl]

48. +1

The states that consist of India's Silicon valley (the Southern states) have gender equality..which makes sense because they are also the states with the highest literacy rates.

Its the other states that bring the National Average of India down.

[trud]

36. forget decency from the US

I remember when South Africa was boycotted. Now, if memory serves me correctly, it's been made illegal to boycott Israel.

[OhioChick]

14. Rather Sickening to say the least n/t

[Akoto]

19. Sounds like the tradition is destined to collapse.

Families don't want girls because they're expensive to marry off. Families want boys because they will bring home a wife and that dowry. In time, the ratio will be such that boys won't be able to find wives, and no dowries will be coming in.

[totodeinhere]

24. This brings up an interesting question. First of all, I have been a long time supporter of women's

abortion rights. And as we know, with today's medical technology, it is possible in most cases to know the gender of the fetus in the womb.

So the question is, is it moral for a woman to decide to have an abortion when she finds out that her fetus is a girl? I would think that if we support abortion rights absolutely, as I like to think that I do, a woman should have the right to an abortion for any reason. Or should we make an exception and oppose aborting baby girls merely because of their gender? It's an interesting question and I don't presume to have all of the answers on this.

[wickerwoman]

26. I think its worse to have and/or raise a child you don't want

than to abort a child for any reason.

Ideally all parents would be able to love and respect all of their kids for whoever they are, but where that isn't the case, I think selective abortion is better than bearing and then either abandoning your child or raising him/her without love. Neglect and abuse cause a lot more pain over a much longer period of time.

"To children... may they all be loved and wanted because as we all know anything else is hell on earth."

[defendandprotect]

29. India has long been preventing "gender selection" by abortion ...

however, as some point out the law is often ignored.

It is always "moral" for a woman to decide to have an abortion -- however,

having to accord oneself with immoral discriminations is another question.

Those who support abortion/choice are not in turn supporting 'gender choice' --

Feminists are not supporting genocide of females! Nor males!

The problems in India have nothing to do with females or any CHOICE they may

be given re abortion -- the problem is male-supremacist religion and teachings

which has polluted their culture.

That is what needs to be changed -- not women's choice!

[JI7]

35. India is horrible at enforcing the laws, and Bribery is huge in India

any women who visits there can test it out for themselves. go to a doctor and ask to know the gender and even make it clear it's because you want an abortion. i would bet most would find the first doctor willing to tell in exchange for some money.

[defendandprotect]

40. It is horrible -- and they need a complete change in culture ---

so does every nation still suffering the effects of patriarchy/male-supremacy ---

[JI7]

33. i find it hard to feel bad for these people

they are fucking themselves up. you can't blame the govt here as it's not the govt. it's the ignorant backwards thinking.

i pointed out in another thread on this that Kerala which has more equal rights and tends to be socialist actually has a slightly higher percentage of women.

the areas where this tends to be the worst are also cultures that are very sexist. like punjab where it's all about how the men are tough and shit.

i hope these families end up without their precious sons ever getting married.

india also allows for girls to be education and make a life for themselves but some people are just so fucking backwards.

it would actually be a good thing if these type of families died off without procreating and continuing to push these ideas.

the mother is in the OP is starving her daughter to death. in fact i think the govt should go after these people. but india is horrible when it comes to enforcing the laws they have.

[JI7]

34. the parents of those girls need to be arrested for Attempted Murder

looks like they are starving the girls to death on purpose.

[LuckyLib]

38. I feel even more disdain for India after reading "Half the Sky" by Nicholas Kristoff

and Cheryl Wu. But they have good company among countries/cultures that routinely consider females as valuable only for producing males.

[ChromeFoundry]

43. India - US ally and business partner...

In a word. Sickening.

Yet they have funding to launch probes to the moon, spend billions on military upgrades... and blame Pakistan for the worlds problems.

[Vehl]

44. ah, your pet peeve,

carry on, carry on

[ChromeFoundry]

50. profits over humanity...yep

...run along now... go justify these acts to someone more gullible.

[Vehl]

52. Ah I love those strawmen

Pointing out that broadbrush generalizations are wrong is equal to supporting profits over humanity!
:eyes:


The funny part is that the states of India where most multinational investment is (Southern states) are also the most progressive and most literate states in all of India..with almost no gender gap.


Then again dont let facts get in the way of riding one's hobby horse.


im done here.

[OhioChick]

49. +1000 n/t

[Vehl]

45. Literacy plays the major part in getting rid of such practices

India, contrary to what some might think varies from pro woman, to pro male depending on which region/State of India one is at.(think of it like the blue state/red state thingie)

For example the states with the highest literacy rate, Southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra and karnataka (These are also the states which make up India's Silicon valley) also show high number of Female kids. In other words High literacy = gender Equality. These states also have always been traditionally ones which give women a high status in the family and are sometimes even Matrilineal.
Furthermore these states have a fertility rate of 2(zero population growth!)

States like Punjab (NW India) on the other hand, which generally have a patriarchal society tend to show a abysmal gap in the male-female ratio.

Its self evident that with the increase in literacy levels, the other states would also hopefully reduce the gender imbalance. The government has banned the practice of finding out the gender of the child before birth, but due to corruption and illiteracy they are not followed by all.

India, as most who have been to India would be well aware(not just to one state, but have traveled the length and breadth of it) is a land of contradictions...ranging from the illiterate superstitious villager who treats women like property to the cultured householder who elected one of the first females heads of states in the world, by popular vote. To generalize all of India with broad brush strokes would be akin to bunching the fundie states of the Midwest America with the liberal Blue states of the coasts when it comes to issues like separation of church-state and abortion. Think of the Indian states with high literacy as the Blue states, and the backward ones as the red states and you see a problem that is eerily similar to the one we witness here in America every day. I for one am all for the equality of women, especially in India, however I dislike simplistic generalizations about an entire country. It would be akin to a foreigner ridiculing all of America for their "pro-life" anti women's-rights stand of the repugs.


The following map underscores my point




Thus instead of generalizing, lets work towards locating the problem spots and taking preventive action.

cheers
:)

[PassingFair]

54. +1

Very true, Vehl.

My daughter loved southern India (especially the food) and
the decidedly different status of women there.

Very different from Maharashtra where she lived.

India has many civil rights type heroes that inspire me
as well.

I especially admire Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, and the history
of India's secular constitution.