Just opened my Facebook and came to know that today is "International Girl Child Day". So by the time my girl child is busy chewing off ( without teeth anyways..) her stuffed toy's tail, I am blogging.this post.
Although, personally I do not believe in these specific 'days' but still I think I should pen down my feeling. My girl, I cherish every moment of our togetherness. You are the best gift which GOD gave me. I don't know how do I fare as a mother, believe me dear, I am trying my best. I wait for the day when you would grow up into a head-strong & independent person.
My Girl Child....GOD is kind enough to bless me this bundle of joy.
That day, I was watching one crime based show in TV which was showing teenager girls as young as age of 13-14 are being either kidnapped or poor parents being lured to sell off them, are bought by people in villages of Haryana & Punjab and are married (??) to boys there. The skewed gender ratio of these villages now compels them to buy girls from poor families of other states like Chattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam for. In this context, a recent article of Times of India shows that the people of these villages feel proud that they have so well fed their females that they give birth only to male child...Ridiculous. How unabashedly they hide their heinous crime of female foeticide which is the only cause of this skewed gender ratio. I really felt the lump in my throat when I saw the plight of those sold off girls who are considered only as baby (male child!!!)bearing machines and also treated worse than domestic slaves.
Why this mad desire to have only baby boys in a family? Only because some morons still think that they take forward the name of family, girls get married and their 'gotra' changes but boys would continue the legacy of your "gotra". These are the same people who worship various female deities. And why only criticize less educated people ..There are highly educated lot who's views & mindset still reflect the thinking of neanderthal times. Wish ...people understand the damage done by them before it is too late.
I recently saw this documentary called 'Izzatnagar ki asabhya betiyan' based on honor killings, the documentary was hard hitting, and then we had a discussion with the caste (victims and social workers).
ReplyDeleteOne reason for not wanting daughters is they might demand their (rightful) share in the property, which is bad enough, but gets much worse if they marry out of caste, then the lower castes will also become land owners (children inheriting from mothers)!
Gotra is just an excuse, honor is also an excuse, basically they want to also ensure that women do not marry outside, when there is a shortage of wives/male child bearers in their community.
They will do everything, but not be willing to value or respect girl children/women.
Yeah IHM...one thing you rightly said in one of the comments in ur blog that keep a person away from education and then it is easy to 'manipulate' them...be it women or anyone.
DeleteAlso sometimes education does not make any difference....(saw ur blog abt that asst professor of chemistry.....serious case of extreme conditioning!!!)...even i posted few days back abt how few educated lot react to a girl child....
Yes that email made me really sad. Literacy and degrees are not enough to create the right attitudes, though of course they help. Sometimes totally illiterate people have more expectation of justice for all...
ReplyDeleteReactions people give and the behaviour people show towards girl child is independent of their educational status. It is more the trouble of preconceived, social norms created for convenience over the centuries.
ReplyDeleteI guess spreading awareness that we need to stand up for our own rights and mothers should take a bold step to safeguard the lives of their girl child should bring about the needed change.