Despite what the scriptures say, India has been home to some of the most barbaric acts against

women, including dowry deaths, trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation alarmingly high cases of rape, molestation, female infanticide and foeticide. Child Sex Ratio is a sensitive indicator that shows the status of women in a country. The sex ratio among children was 927 : 1000 in India during 2001 census and is continuously declining. Female fetuses are selectively aborted after illegal pre-natal sex determination. The secondary status of women in our society, considering them a commodity is the root cause of these atrocities. The menace of dowry, fear of loss of face in local community and a desire to keep the wealth within the family are all leading to unsafe abortions and trafficking of children. The apathetic attitude of the administration and ineffective legislative implementation further adds to the woes of girl child in India. Read More Snehalaya works to support and rehabilitate unwed mothers and victim women in order to save the girl child and her future. The objectives of 'Save the Girl Child' project of Snehalaya are as follows 1. To provide guidance, counseling and information for families and women to prevent unsafe abortions and illegal transfer of children 2. To provide shelter, legal help, emotional support, vocational training and facilitating social reintegration of unwed mothers and victim women. 3. To provide excellent care, medical help and affection for relinquished children 4. To find suitable families for adoption, and place the children in good homes, providing them a bright future.

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Term Paper on Female Foeticide

In India, welfare measures like empowerment of women, reservation in Parliament, free education to girl child and a lot of other woman progressive initiative, do not make sense when we look at cases of female foeticide. There are only 933 females for every 1000 males against global figure of 1060 females per 1000 males. Sex ratio is a composite indicator of woman's status in a society. If we analyse state wise sex ratio, it is most disturbing to note that the States like Punjab and Haryana which are among the prosperous states of India, female-male ratio is continuously declining. Female Foeticide, is violation of right a basic human right and guarantee under the constitution In the case of female foeticide, the female children in the wombs of expecting mothers, they are not only denied the right to live but are robbed to their right to be born. The selection of male child over female is enough proof for lack of right to birth to girl child. Social, cultural, financial and psychological reasons are responsible for the prevalence of evil female foeticide in our society.

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Unfortunately, it became popular for sex determination, leading to sex selective abortions for those who do not want to be burdened with female child. The more easy way was shown by Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 by legalising abortions in certain specific conditions and ultimately became a tool for female sex-selective abortions and led to drastic fall in the female sex ratio to present level. Male child preference is a pivotal factor in female foeticide. The normative preference for the male child emanates from gender typed roles, male inheritance and decadency. In our society people think that male child brings social status for them. All religions have legitimized gender inequalities and accorded an inferior status to women. Manu, the Hindu Law Giver, denied autonomy to women, and advised that women should be guarded day and night. Science has made this a less messy procedure through female foeticide. Dowry system is also crucial in preventing the birth of a girl child. [for sex determination test and abortion], than to give birth to female child and spend five lacs for her marriage. Girl child is treated as a bird of passage, a guest in her own parent's house. Small family norm is also responsible for female foeticide. Middle class families prefer norm of two-child family. Decrease in family size ensured the survival of male child at the cost of female child. This norm has displaced the girl child. The practice of sex determination followed by abortion in case of female child is not only illegal but constitutes a criminal offence. It was proposed to prohibit pre-natal diagnostic techniques for determination of sex of foetus for the purpose of female foeticide. Such abuse of scientific technique was found discriminatory against female sex and also affecting the dignity and status of women. Law

alone cannot stop the social evil of female foeticide.The present study reveals that girl child is proving an enormously endangered species. The gravity of problem demands immediate measures to combat female foeticide.

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Female Foeticide : A Hall of Shame More than a hundred million women are missing because their parents wanted a son. Female foeticide is a process of aborting perfectly healthy female foetuses after about 18 weeks (or more) of gestation just because they are females. The same foetuses would've been allowed to live if they were males. There is no question that female foeticide is not just unethical but it is downright cruel as well. Despite a law banning sex selective abortion is in force for a decade, as many as half a million female foetuses are aborted each year in the country. Gender discrimination in our society is so entrenched, that it begins even before a girl is born. Baby girls are throttled, poisoned or drowned in a bucket of water. A baby girl tied in polythene bag and dumped in a public dustbin left to be torn away by wild stray dogs. An incident that took place nowhere else but in the very capital of our country. To cite a couple of more examples, of many, the recovery of pieces of bones of newly born female fetuses from a hospital backyard in Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh in February 2008. And bodies of more than 100 fetuses found outside an abortion clinic in Pattran town in Punjab in August last year were both deplorable. Though India has a history of skewed female sex ratio, what the country is witnessing today is the systematic extermination of the female child, with the ultrasound machine serving as an instrument of murder. Clinics offering ultrasound scanning facility have mushroomed throughout the country, and despite making pre-natal sex determination a penal offence, doctors and parents alike rampantly violate this law. A survey in Maharashtra showed that an alarming 95% of the amniocentesis scan were being carried out for sex determination. In India, the 2001 census reveals that the overall sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males, showing a marginal increase of 6 points from the 1991 census of 927. However, this is a very sorry state indeed and we are doing much worse than over a hundred years ago when the sex ratio was 972 in 1901, 946 in 1951 till the 933 today.

More and more baby girls have either been aborted or killed as infants since 1961 and that this trend continues strong even today. Indeed, an improvement in the child sex ratio has only been marked in one state, Kerala, and two Union Territories, Lakshwadeep and Pondicherry. Everywhere else, there is a decrease in the number of girls. The greatest offenders in this area are the northern and the western states, with Punjab and Haryana leading the pack. In Punjab, the child sex ratio has decreased by 77 points to a new and horrifying low of 798 females to a 1000 males, and Haryana has seen a decrease of 60 points, meaning there are now only 819 females to a 1000 males. Other offenders high on this list are Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh and Gujarat. This is not so much a legal problem as it is a social disease. The son-centric model of our society forms the foundation of the practice of female feticide and infanticide. Girls are made to face discrimination before birth, at birth, and throughout their lives at the hands of their families. Even those girls who are allowed to live get second-class treatment. They are denied adequate medical and health care facilities, they are denied adequate nutrition, and they are denied educational facilities. They are often subject to physical and sexual abuse. This is not so much a legal problem as it is a social disease. The son-centric model of our society forms the foundation of the practice of female feticide and infanticide. Girls are made to face discrimination before birth, at birth, and throughout their lives at the hands of their families. Even those girls who are allowed to live get second-class treatment. They are denied adequate medical and health care facilities, they are denied adequate nutrition, and they are denied educational facilities. They are often subject to physical and sexual abuse. Unfortunately, various schemes to counter this situation brought out by many states as well as at the central level have been ineffective in reducing the extent of this problem. Removal of this practice must involve: Focus on the humanist, scientific and rational approach and a move away from the traditional teachings which support discrimination. Empowerment of women and measures to deal with other discriminatory practices such as dowry, etc. A strong ethical code for doctors. Simpler methods for complaint registration for all women, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Publicity for the cause through the media and increasing awareness amongst the people through NGOs and other organizations; Regular appraisal and assessment of the indicators of the status of women such as sex ratio, female mortality, literacy and economic participation. Infanticide is a crime of murder and punishment should be given to both parents. There ought to be stricter control over clinics that offer to identify the sex of a fetus and stronger check on abortions to ensure that they are not performed for the wrong reasons. Doctors must also be sensitized and strong punitive measures must be taken against those who violate the law. It has been calculated that more than a hundred million women are missing because their parents wanted a son. We have made significant scientific and technological progress and we churn out some of the brightest minds every year in every area possible. But if we cant check female feticide all this progress is absolutely worthless.

How can a society expect to survive without women? Indeed various studies have shown that having far fewer women in a society leads to increased violence in a society, particularly against women. If the macabre practice continues, it would spell doom for both sons and daughters and will have a disastrous impact on the future generations. Source: Based on a speech by Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Chief Justice of India and newspaper reports.