INDIA

INDIA|

60 MILLION MISSING GIRLS

Photo source: Saurabh Das, Israel Times

60 million. Thats roughly 2.5 times the Australian population. It’s also more than the population of  South Korea, Ukraine, South Africa, Spain, Columbia, Sudan, Argentina, Canada, Morocco, Cuba, Greece, Portugal, Belgium and Hungary- just to name a few. 60 million is also the number of “MISSING” women and girls in India. So imagine rounding up entire countries and killing them- everyone gone or “missing”. Would anyone notice? Would anyone stop it?

These women have either been aborted before birth, killed once born, died of neglect because they were girls, or perhaps murdered by their husband's family for not paying enough dowry at marriage. 60 million is not some random number plucked from thin air- but a matter of demographics. As far back as 1991, the economist Amartya Sen pointed out that Asia was missing 100 million women because of sex-selection (men being valued over women). In 2005, it was estimated at 50 million Indian women in the New York Times “were missing” however, that was 10 years ago. This isn't a new problem- it’s a consistent one. This is a problem deeply entrenched within a culture, this is discrimination against women which has led to the survival rates of girls hitting an all-time low. With parts of society regarding girls as little more than economic and social burdens, families are going to extreme lengths to avoid having daughters. Can you imagine, as a women, being born and ‘surviving’ to then realise there is minimal to no value on your life, let alone your hopes, aspirations and dreams?

In 1991, the Indian census showed a huge drop of women in the sex-ratio. After running tests to check whether women had been under-counted, they found that a massive explosion in sex-selection during the 80s had led to a sharp drop in the number of girls being born. A report by Action Aid in 2009 ("Disappearing Daughters") found that in some villages in the state of Punjab, there were as few as 300 girls for every 1,000 boys. Despite policies to address girls’ rights and improvements in women’s literacy, education and employment, the pressure to produce a male heir remains. 

“It was a girl and we wanted to abort it. We paid 1,200 rupees [$28] and got it over with. What would we 

have done with another girl?”| Couple responding to survey in Kangra 

In 2012, when a young woman was gang raped and then died from serious injuries, the prime minister said nothing about the incident until a week later, despite ongoing public protests. Imagine a crime such as this occurring in Australia, without any recognition from Australia's leader? What message would that send? Gender inequality is so deeply entrenched. Marital rape, for example, is still legal there. India and China alone represent nearly four out of every ten of all people on earth. Due to endemic sex-selection in both countries, the imbalance of women and men there is unprecedented in human history. In India, the overall sex-ratio for young children has fallen to 916 girls per 1,000 boys, and had consistently gotten worse over the last 60 years. In 2012, India was named the worst G20 country to be a woman in due to sex selection, infanticide and trafficking. “My husband and I fought over my desire to have an abortion. I told him that this society does not value girls and I do not want to give birth to another one. I told him that girls are a burden on the family. They have to face violence in all spheres of life. If the girl commits even a small mistake she and her entire family have to bear the burden. When I gave birth to my first daughter everyone pitied me. They all told me that I could not have a son. The taunts from society and from my in-laws that I would have faced for not having a son forced me to abort. I had no other option. Knowing the amount of harassment my baby would go through after her birth, I think it is much better to die.” *Renu, 25

Are you feeling grateful? You should. Are you feeling guilty? You shouldn't. We cannot change where we are born. But we can change what happens when we are. You should continue to read, learn and educate yourself. Commit to it, because it is people who change the world. 

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