gender
concerns
Saving the girl child
Santosh Kumar Mohapatra
ndia may be second
fastest growing
economy of the world,
but India`s exponential
growth and rising
importance in the
world act as a smokescreen to
the careworn status of women
in the country. Millions of girls
have to struggle with acute gender
discrimination and distress as part
of their every day experience.
The existing patriarchal system
leads to unequal status of women
which render the latter vulnerable
to exploitation, oppression,
deprivation and destitution. The
disparity and discrimination is
also reflected in literacy, health,
and development and working
environment. The Census 2011 data
reaffirms that girls have no place in
India`s growth story. Atrocities are
perpetrated and rights are trampled,
but the highest form of violence
against women is to deny life in
womb because of gender, what is
tragically known as massacre in
womb.
I
The paramount
need of hour is
sensitizing society
to look at a girl
child as a `boon’.
This is possible by
ensuring women
empowerment and
also making women
economically
independent
Recently, a global perception
survey has named India as the
fourth most dangerous country in
the world for women with high
level female infanticide and sex
trafficking being cited as the major
reasons. Afghanistan tops the list
of the five worst states followed by
Democratic Republic of Congo and
Pakistan. This is corroborated by
UN population Fund report which
says that up to 50 million girls are
thought to be missing over the past
century due to female infanticide
and foeticide. The tragedy is that the
Census 2011 data also portend the
same bleak scenario. After falling
continuously from 972 females per
1000 males in 1901 to 927 females
per 1000 males in 1991, the overall
sex ratio (number of females per
1000 males in the population)
in India picked up marginally to
933 in 2001 and 940 in 2011 due
to improved medical technology
and education. But, what is most
distressing is that the census data
of 2011 showed a colossal drop in
sex ratio among children in the age
group of 0-6 years from 945 in 1991
to 927 in 2001 and further decline to
914 in 2011.This decline in juvenile
sex ratio has been unabated since
The author is an Odisha based financial columnist.
44
YOJANA March 2012