200 Million Girls: Female Infanticide in China and India Takes Many Lives Essay

It is a girl. The four deadliest words in Asia. In the past 5 decades 200 million girls went missing in India and china. In Asia the solemn phenomenon fe mannish infanticide occurs on a large scale. According to M. P. , Female infanticide is the well-read shoot downing of baby girls due to the orientation course for male babies and from the low value associated with the birth of distaffs. Research signals that womanly infanticide happens all over the origination, but especially in Asia. Girls atomic number 18 being aborted, killed or aband iodined.China and India argon the two roughly populous countries in the serviceman where feminine infanticide is a very big issue. These two countries buzz off similar but to a fault distinct movements for female infanticide and these rea give-and-takes give not cease to equal before long. In 1978 China introduced the one-child constitution. The Chinese population was exploitation too fast and already was enormous. The admi nistration introduced this form _or_ system of government to slow down the growth of the population of China. This back up female infanticide blush more.Before the introduction of the one-child insurance policy female infanticide already existed. According to Ansley J.Coale and Judith Banister, a missionary (and naturalist) observer in China in the belatedly nineteenth century who interviewed 40 women over mount 50, who reported to arrive given birth to 183 boys and one hundred seventy-five daughters, of whom 126 sons but only 53 daughters survived to age 10. By their account, the women had destroyed 78 of their daughters. To Chinese families the son is the most important child. They believe that the son preempt work, take away the family conjure and look after elderly p bents. exactly after the desire of having a son or two has been met, do Chinese families prefer having a girl.The question that needs to be answered is whether this perceptiveness for sons is caused b y culture or economics. According to Confucius on that point be some rituals that can only be performed by boys. But this is not the major reason for female infanticide. The major factor is patrilocality, which refers to the firmly entrenched ethnical norm for elderly parents to co-reside with their adult children, and for the son to fool a woman marry in and pay heed him in this function. Patrilocality is an economic factor affecting about every country that participates in sex-selective abortion. (Avraham Ebenstein)Due to the one-child policy and the son preference population, statistics suggest there are 118 boys born for every 100 girls. (Sherry Karabin) In India there is also an unbalanced sex ratio. In India female infanticide is also a big issue. India and China do have similarities as to why families prefer boys. To Indian families, the son is also the most important child. In India sons have longsighted been prized over daughters. Sons preserve the family name and tra ditionally look after elderly parents. Daughters are often seen as an expensive burden.Parents are face up to pay a costly wedding fate when they get married this amount is equivalent to trio years of earnings. If they have a daughter and do not have the money to pay the component part they would also brook pride. Most interviewed Indian women have a similar reason of why they abort, kill or abandon their daughters. They rather abort, kill or abandon them than let them suffer. (Ashok Prasad) In China the dress out entrust give the brides family betrothal gifts and a sum of money. In return the parents of the bride will hark back the brides dowry to the grooms family.If one of the families cannot offer gift or the dowry, they would also lose pride. But for Chinese families this is not a reason for not having a girl. Not only unequal families have a preference for boys but even educated middle class women face oblige to produce sons. Indian mickle feel that they will need a son for everything. Indian women confab this the son obsession. Due to the son preference in India, population statistics suggest there are 940 girls per 1000 males in rural areas, whereas in urban areas there are 900 girls per 1000 males. Samar Halankar) Unfortunately this horrible phenomenon will not end soon.Both countries have a strong and long history, which delegacy an centenarian tradition. Their preferences for sons will not change soon. In some(prenominal) China and India the government tries to prevent female infanticide by taking certain measures. In China the government tries to ban sex-selective abortion but at the similar time they declare that the care of old people is the task of the family and not the state.In India the government has tabu dowries under the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 unagitated few get married without the dowry. Female infanticide in India and China) Despite of this government interference, female infanticide has not stopped. Statistics s how that over 200 million girls went missing in the past fifty years. Research shows that the number of girls is muted declining. (Ashok Prasad) Not only the government tries to stop this, also people who got aware of this fact are trying to stop female infanticide. In 2006 Rita Banerji founded The 50 one thousand thousand Missing Campaign in order to come along awareness of the phenomenon in India.Although female infanticide has a long history, a lot of people over the world are not aware of this fact. In kinfolk 2012 a new docudrama film Its a girl will be released. This documentary film explores female infanticide in India and China. It tells the stories of abandoned girls, of die hard mothers trying to save their daughters, of mothers who would kill for a son and women who suffer extreme violence.Global experts and grassroots activists couch the stories in context and advocate different paths towards change, time collectively lamenting the lack of any genuinely effectiv e action against this injustice. Marie Vlachova) To conclude, female infanticide in China and India is assuage a serious issue and will not end soon. In both countries the preference for sons has similar but also different reasons. This son preference will not change soon due to the old family tradition. They truly believe that sons can bring prosperity, continuity and valuable declare and care. Which means that female infanticide will not end soon. Statistics support this fact by showing that the number of girls is still declining and will keep declining.