The Endangered Species

This is indeed a sickening and disgusting practise and a shame on all of those who do it and all of us who stay silent over it. The practise of female infanticide used to occur in Arabia before Islam came and Allah in the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace!) in the hadith condemned it in the strongest terms! The ancient Spartans too used to kill their new-born babies who were weak by throwing them off a cliff...

It is indeed retrogressive if it is still occuring in our part of the world. As a Muslim and a human being I condemn all those who stick to this barbaric practise and thus violate not only all standards of human decency but the explicit commands of Allah and His Messenger too.

``When news is brought to one of them of the birth of a female child, his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief. With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on contempt or bury her in the dust? Ah! what an evil they decide on?`` (Quran 16:59).


: ``He who is involved in bringing up daughters, and accords benevolent treatment towards them, they will be protection for him against Hell-Fire`` (Bukhari and Muslim), ``Whoever maintains two girls till they attain maturity, he and I will come on the Resurrection Day like this; and he joined his fingers`` (Muslim).

…let me be the devil’s advocate here and say us women are also to blame for the quagmire we find ourselves in…how long will we be the “strong and silent” types and subserviently take all the bs handed out to us in the name of religion, culture, traditions etc?…when will we be able to stand up for ourselves and go against the submissiveness that’s been ingrained into us?…when will we learn to use our intelligence and come out of our comfort zones and the ever-so- convenient shroud of “kismet hai”?…after all isn’t kismet what you make of the lemons you’ve been handed?…

Interesting article pointing to a big problem.

The condition of women in Pakistan (I don`t know the details of what it is in India) is quite poor. Actually it is at two extremes. One small group of women have it pretty easy. And a huge group have it very difficult.

The small group are priveleged. They are not expected to work or be ambitious. They are carefully looked after by their wealthy parents. Basically, everything is on the house. They marry a rich guy and may not live happily ever after, but do live surrounded by servants ever after. Never having to even drive a car or clean their own bathroom.

The large group, including mostly the ones in villages (specially in feudal areas) have to work in the fields, they are abused, they have no rights etc. They are at the mercy of society, of their husbands and of any one else. The ones in the cities work their butts off as sweeperesses, cleaners etc. and the houses of the small group of wealthy women.

It is a given that in any society in which women are treated so poorly, the primary blame goes on the man. But, I would put part of the blame on the priveleged women also. Any leadership against oppression always comes from the few priveleged members of the groups that is being discriminated against. The discriminators themselves never bring in the change. Martin Luther King, a, ``privelaged`` Black, led the blacks against discrimination. The Whites themselves would never have given equal rights to the Blacks. Jinnah, a, ``privelege`` Indian-Muslim, led a poor people against the British and then for Pakistan. The British and Indians themselves would never have created Pakistan.

I have seen this leadership greatly lacking in Pakistani priveleged women. Which is quite sad and unfortunate. The ones who have it good seem least concerned about making a place for themselves in the society in leadership positions, thereby helping out the least priveleged women.

A prime example are the wives of Pakistani professionals in the USA (a group I am very familiar with). Literally every Indian girl (wife) I meet here, is into a profession or is getting an education to enhance her position. They use the success of their husbands to become successful themselves, thereby gaining professional authority and power, through which they could help other Indian women if they wanted to. However the story of Pakistani girls/women is completey different.

Despite having all the resources at the feet, due to the success of their husbands, hardly any of them pursue anything professional. They don`t evey pursue an education. Nor do they do any kind of volunteer work. They pursue coffee parties and socializing. Even though most of them seem to be from a higher social level, ``back home`` than their Indian female counterparts. I have had this discussion with many of them personally (specifically with the ones who don`t have children yet, and thus have nothing to do), and they seem least bothered, or are too underconfident to make their place in the society and become financially independent and professionally empowered (even though many of their husbands are more than happy to assist them).

Currently the Pakistani Assembly will have a large number of seats reserved for women. The local assemblies have 33% of the seats reserved for women. Women are now more empowered politically than ever, by law, in Pakistan. I am waiting to see whether these women show their loyalty to their fellow oppressed women, or do they show their loyalties to the political classes they belong to. If it is the later, then I am afraid women have only other women to blame for their lack of political will and position in the society.

For those women, who think it is impossible for a woman to make it to a powerful position in Pakistan, I would suggest that they read the life stories of women like Zubeida Jalal (who would be my candidate for Prime Minsiter). Women like Asma Jehagir would be in this category (even though I don`t like some of her theatrics). Benazir has to be given some credit also, although her corruption and self-centered has done more to discredit women than help them.

Pakistani priveleged women class needs more Zubeida Jalals and Asman Jehangirs. Once that happens, they will be able to demand their rights, rather than request or beg for them. Unfortunately, I don`t see too many aspriing ZJs and AJs amongst the priveleged Pakistani women/girls I have met.

Bina,

A very timely article. What is the answer? Normally I would think that literacy amoungst the women would help, but the statics you quoted negates it. As you mention the problem is ecnomics. It is BIG rupees for dehaj against small rupees for abortion. I guess the answer is the economic independence of the women. As more women achieve economic parity with men, the perception that they are a liability will weaken. However that may be along way of. What if any is the short term solution?

Romair,

A know only a few pakistani families, and agree that more of them are stay at home types than their Indian couterparts. However what is your understanding on the second generation? My perception is that they are at par with the Indian girls. The only young muslim girls (both pakistani and bangladeshi) that I know of are studing for professional degrees.

This is an OK article except for this sentence:

``Recently I came across an article in Newsweek which has caused a real furor in India``

The problem is the author assumes that Indians first heard about female foeticide in their country from the recent Newsweek article. In fact its an issue which has been causing concern and has been discussed publically for many years.

For instance, many years ago, in one of Ms Jayalalitha`s earlier terms as Tamil Nadu`s CM, in one of the worst-affected districts she introduced a `cradle` scheme in which unwanted baby girls could be left anonymously at designated places so that at least they wouldnot be killed and the state could bring them up.

The 2001 census report talks about the states where the female:male ratio has deteriorated compared to the last census, and institutions like the SGPC in Punjab have been officially roped in to train religious people to spread the message against female foeticide.

About 6-7 years ago, I was travelling on a train journey and had to listen to lively(and often earburning) discussion on the subject among those in the same compartment, including 2 women who worked for state health services. They were all discussing a theory about how to naturally have sons(it depends on identifying the right time in the woman`s reproductive cycle apparently, though don`t ask me why). That was also a method for sex-selection but at least women would not endanger their health and that of their children by firstly having too many children while trying for a son and secondly by getting unsafe abortions.

A interesting study on China says that the China of the future will have so many excess males who cannot find marriage partners because of the wide-spread use of female foeticide there that their only outlet will be the Army. The study projects an increasingly aggressive Chinese Army with inevitable amed conflicts with neighbors. Perhaps the same will hold good for India too.

www.censusindia.net provides detailed statistics on Indian population.

re: semipreciousme

{how long will we be the “strong and silent” types and subserviently take all the bs handed out to us in the name of religion, culture, traditions etc}

...what about parents?...aren`t they culprits too?...controlling and sexist desi parents with 15th-century mindsets need to be put in their place as well, don`t they?...

ajeet #6: I cannot speak for the condition/aspirations of Indian girls in India, since I have never been there. But I can speak on what they are Pakistani girls do while they are here in the US, specifically in the IT industry.

There is a huge (even bigger than huge) difference in the attitudes of the two groups about studying, working, becoming more empowered and becoming financially independent. Why? I don`t quite know. There is a joke going around that Indian guys in IT will only marry girls who have a degree in the same field and/or are willing to work. Maybe that is the reason. Maybe it is something else.

But one thing is for certain, the Pakistani girls who get married, and come here from Pakistan, are nearly all from well-off to relatively well-off families. They are married to pretty decent progressive guys, who are doing well here. They have no responsibliities of in-laws and such. They usually have a basic education like a B.A or B.Sc. from Pakistan, or in some cases even MBBS/MBA etc. And most of their husbands have no problems with their wives studying furthur or working (infact many would like them to).

Yet hardly any of these girls pursue anything - either they are too underconfident or too easy going. If even they are unwilling to pursue something, to get into empowered leadership positions, then I am afraid, things are not going to improve for the giant group of underpriveleged Pakistani women. Since the former are the only ones who can become leaders and do something. I doubt too many men are going to do much (Musharraf has increased political seats for them in Assemblies, but social revolutions cannot start from the top).

Two things really freak me out due to their disproportionality. One is the small number of Pakistani women in the IT industry (and working or studying in general beyond the basic Pakistani BA) in proportion to Pakistani men (I have run across maybe ten Pakistani female IT professionals in Silcon Valley, while I have met two hundred or or so Pakistani men). The second is the even tinier number of Indian Muslims in the US IT industry in comparison with Indian Hindus (for every fifty Indian Hindus I have met in this field, I have met perhaps one Indian Muslim).

Bina; thank you. i think i learnt some from this.

Sadna; i was speaking to one of my Indian friends recently who told me about female infanticide in Rajasthan. Apparently, there were some tourists, among them a journalist, travelling through the place and they came across a village where there were no female children. On inquiry, all the villagers could come up with was ``Prabhu ki leela. . .`` Investigation revealed that they were in fact burying the girls alive.

re: cradle scheme. the edhi centres in pakistan offer a similar facility and i think it would be interesting to see what are the proportions of female to male children they receive.

Wait till they can do genetic engineering on gender, height and skin color in the subcontinent health (if that term can still be applied to them) clinics. The ratio of women to men will go even lower than the 800 girls for 1000 boys that you mention. Every family will give birth only to sons (therefore rendering the entire abortion issue moot). None of these boys will be less than six foot tall, and of course they will all be light skinned and more handsome than any film actor from bollywood or hollywood, and will always maintain a perfect physique.
They will have specially engineered brain cells that come loaded at time of birth (like computers come loaded with microsoft software) with knowledge required to pass medical exams and become a doctor. And of course their minds will be genetically engineered to make them think that living with mom all their adult lives is the greatest thing since sliced bread (thoughts of sex, which competes with sliced bread as the greatest source of pleasure to mankind, would of course have been switched off in these perfect desi sons). And bread sliced by Ama own loving hands would of course yield a kind of a non-sexual climax to these perfect mama`s sons.
These boys will all be admitted to the Harvard University, thus providing Ama with bragging rights back home. They will speak English with a perfect Oxford accent. And of course there will be no fear of them getting hitched to some female when away from their loving moms, for reasons mentioned above. And of course these perfect sons will all be the result of immaculate conceptions, the need for a husband competing for quality time with mom having been also dispensed with.

Romair,

I asked you about the second generation. The girls born here or growing up here. The ones I know about are pursuing degrees in pharmacy and computer science.

Dear Bina,

Regarding feticides, I remember reading somewhere that in Rajhistan, the female:male ratio was 600:1000. Scary, stuff all this feticide!!! Let the ba$tards destroy themselves, I say. Just nature`s way of removing the trash.

Ansari,

Regarding his Jhoola scheme which he introduced many, many years ago (and which was inspired because some local mullahs had passed a fatwa to stone to death an illegitimate baby), I had posed the same question to Edhi once. He said something to the effect that the problem wasn`t mainly one of females or males but more of illegitimate children.

Saxena, regarding parents. I should be able to answer this one. All this parental stuff is pretty much codswallop (cockney rhyming slang for dogs******) nowadays. I`ve seen it all my brotha and I`d hate to say this (because I belong to that age group) but Pakistani boys and girls (those who speak against their culture, religion or parents) are usually some of the biggest ba$tards I know. And it`s not because they are challenging their beliefs. There`s nothing wrong with that. It`s because they aren`t doing anything about it. Moreover, they usually have no idea of what they are talking about which pretty much makes them look like jacka$$es and make me lose all respect for them. Am I the only one who thinks that immigrant parents who came from other countries could not work their a$$es off 24-7 and be the model parents for their children. The younger generations should learn to be just as resilient as their parents, instead of feeling sorry for themselves.

Speaking on Indians` behalf would be a little too much since the average Indian could be anyone and our moral values are different from one region and religion to another. And of course, I am not an Indian.

Umer M.

re: female feticide
This is a good and timely article. Female feticide by prenatal sex-determination and selective abortion is a bane on any society. India is showing the world that it is a male-obsessed society by allowing such practices to exist.
Many moons ago, i used to work in a hospital in Bombay (Harkissondas Hospital) where this practice was very much prevalent. Most middle class parents would opt for prenatal amniocentesis with the sole indication being sex-determination. We all knew why this was being done. The sonographist and the gynecologist doing amnio were making quick bucks and did not give a damn why this was being done.
Government is to blame here. There should be a clear cut indication for amniocentesis. Elderly female, history of previous child with some chromosomal problems or inborn errors or some metabolic problems are some of the reasons amniocentesis may be allowed. May be some experts in the field on chowk can throw some light. In absence of clear cut guidelines, this procedure is being misused.
Haryana now has an adverse female to male ratio. Haryanvi grooms have a problem at hand. They simply can`t find a girl anymore from their own caste/ region, it seems. Project this problem on a national scale and we know what India is heading for.
Sridhar

Bina:

good show!

( stumbling off to bath room to throw up in disgust at her recent string of issue oriented columns!)…ok…seriously!

..yeah seriously…

the answer lies in another query….why is female infanticide a serious issue in under-developed third world countries only?

lve,

t

UmerMurtaza: `let the bastards destroy themselves, I say. Just nature`s way of removing the trash`

Could you kindly elaborate, and explain how you arrived at that conclusion?

are little girls being killed/buried because of dowries? women are better bread earners in lower class, middle lower class house holds: sillaee, crochet, house maids etc...is it just the thought of marrying off a daughter and her jahez thats making people do this? if yes, arent most of us responsible for being part of and encouraging the practise?