Sunday, February 22, 2009

Girls in India

The village girls in the picture might be all smiles but they have had the bad luck to have been born female in India where boys are clearly preferred.

While the Church is working on empowering women, the government has created a campaign to "Save the girl child". Last week the paper carried a story of a baby girl who had been buried alive by her parents. She was the 14th child and they did not another girl. Someone found the baby and today she is back at home with her parents who are receiving government-supported counseling. For every one that is saved, who knows how many are not?

What exactly is so wrong with girls according to the locals?
  • Girls are more expensive to maintain supposedly than boys. They must have pretty saris, earrings, bangles and ankle bracelets.
  • The family must raise a dowry in order for another family to take a daughter off their hands. Dowries are expensive.
  • Girls can't help to provide security for the family in the event of an attack.
  • Girls can't work as hard as boys and they don't earn as much.
  • There is no sense in educating them as they will join the husband's family after marriage and her family will get no benefit from the investment.
Overall, they're not considered daughters, they're liabilities. Sometimes, India is really hard to take.

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