-*Dr. S. Vijay Kumar
Girl child is the
future of every nation and India is no exception. A little amount of
care, a handful of warmth and a heart full of love for a girl child can make a
big difference. Close your eyes, free your thoughts and hear the voice of God,
She is saying something to all of us, “Save Me”. India is a country
where social disadvantage outweighs natural biological advantage of being a
girl. A whole range of discriminatory practices including female feticide,
female infanticide, female genital mutilation, son idolization, early marriage
and dowry have buried the future of the nation. In India, discriminatory
practices have greatly influenced the health and well-being of a girl child,
resulting in a higher mortality rate. It is said that God created mothers
because He could not be present everywhere. It’s unbelievable to realize that a
God’s representative is continuously killing someone beautiful even before she
can come out and see the beauty of nature. The status of the girl
child is the key to achieving women’s equality and dignity which is, in many ways,
a litmus test of the maturity of a society. Girls are to be the future mothers,
besides future policy makers and leaders. Jawaharlal Nehru once said “To awake the people it is the women who should be awakened
first. Once she is on the move the family moves …the nation moves”.
In India, the girl child has been a topic of discussions and
debates for the past several decades but, even today, the position appears to
remain unchanged. The girl was always an unwanted child, and was found killed
at birth. With the advancement of Science and Technology this killing has only
gone still further - for now the girl child is being killed even before birth.
The present scenario in which the girl child is mercilessly killed even before
birth, does not speak too well about the fate of this species. The scenario is
so varied that, it is really difficult to understand what we are really doing
or trying to do in this regard. On the one hand we see girls entering in the
fields of all kinds of professions holding senior positions in offices,
becoming engineers, doctors, managers etc. We are obviously impressed and are
likely to believe that, the position of the girl is now after all not too bad.
This situation is true of the urban area where education and freedom is given
to girls - to a great extent, but even this growth of this class does not
really bear any testimony to the equality of girls with boys.
Status of the Girl Child:
In the village, the girl child has
no say in anything in the home, not even things of her own concern - she is,
even to-day in the 21st Century treated as an object to be used instead of an
individual human being with all the ingredients of human beings - like her
counterparts - the boy. She, even today remains to have the status of an object
to be used or dispensed with at the whims and fancies of her male family
members. With this psyche of the average Indian adult, I personally see no
light at the end of the dark tunnel.
In my view, even for the urban areas, the
prospects of the girl child are not too bright as, even while women are
acquiring status and positions in the office - firstly, they do not get the
respect the male counterparts get in the offices. Besides no matter what status
a woman may achieve outside home, inside the home she, by and large remains a
chattel. When this is the ground reality of the girl at home and outside home
it appears that, even education and financial independence have not helped
women really enhancing their status vis-à-vis the status of men.
We see girls facing discrimination everywhere, in each corner of the
world. As observed by Beijing Platform for Action. “The girl child is
discriminated against boys from the earliest stages of life through her
childhood and into adulthood. In some areas of the world, men outnumber women
by 5 in every 100. The reasons for this discrepancy include harmful attitudes
and practices, such as female genital mutilation, son preference …….. Early
marriage … violence against women, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse,
discrimination against girls in food allocation and other practices related to
health and well-being.”
In this connection,
some vital statistics cited by the United Nations are added here:
By age 18, girls have
received an average of 4.4 years less education than boys.
Of the more than 110
million children not in school, approximately 60 per cent are girls.
Of the more than 130
million primary - school-age children world-wide who are not enrolled in
school, nearly 60 per cent are girls.
In some countries in
Sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls have HIV rates up to five times as high as
adolescent boys.
Pregnancies and
childbirth related health problems take the lives of nearly 1, 46,000 teenage
girls each year.
In Sub-Saharan Africa,
a woman faces a 1 in 13 chance of dying in childbirth. In Western Europe the
risk is 1 in 3200.
At least one in three
girls and women world-wide has been beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime.
An estimated 450
million adult women in developing countries are stunted, a direct result of
malnutrition in early life.
Every year, two
million girls and women are subjected to female genital mutilation.
Indian society is still
largely male dominated, and women are often looked down upon. The birth of a
female child is often regarded as a disaster, and female foeticide is common in
Parts of India (despite the Pre-Natal Diagnositic Techniques Act 1994). When a
male child is born everyone rejoices, but when a female child is born many seem
dejected and crest-fallen, as if a tragedy has occurred (See Sharat Chandra’s
novel Parineeta). According to the Demographic Health Survey and the World
Fertility Survey, parents not only in India but also in other South Asian
countries and North Africa strongly prefer sons to daughters. Socially, sons
are preferred for continuation of family line, for looking after parents in
their old age and for performing their last rites. Besides, poor parents of a
daughter feel humiliated due to dowry demands when her marriage is to be
settled. Practice of dowry is very disgusting.
Problems
of Girl Child (Discrimination against Girl Child):
In most Indian households,
girl child is discriminated and neglected for basic nutrition, education and
health care. Adverse sex ratio, high malnutrition, high maternal mortality
rates, high dropout rates, poor school environment levels, low skill levels,
low value for girl’s household works in society are all indicators of high
preference for a male child due to the belief that girls are less of an asset
and more of a liability. In Bangladesh about 60% of boys seek free treatment of
diarrhoea centres and parents buy and seek medical help three times more often
for boys than for girls. Studies in India and Latin America show that girls are
often immunized later than boys or not at all. The overwhelming social
discrimination against girl child affects her birth or even before birth. In
many communities and in rural areas, an adolescent girl is married off by her
parents around puberty. Early pregnancy, in turn, undermines her health,
physical development and the health of the new born babies. A young and
adolescent girl is denied the right to education, depriving her of vital
information regarding healthcare, nutritious food, immunization, proper
upbringing of children, family planning and reproductive rights etc. thus
leading to the second stage of bondage in her life-bondage much larger and more
unbearable than years spent at parental home. The girl is treated as a transit
passenger on her way to marital household and investing in her survival, safety
and education is considered non-productive.
Family, workplace, community and anywhere, the act of violence in forms of
aggression, exploitation and discrimination is clearly evident and experienced
by female and girl children. Broadly speaking, communal, caste and regional
tension within the country have undermined and damaged the social fabric making
women, especially from the socioeconomically disadvantaged classes, more
vulnerable to violence. Also, the acts of violence directed at the young girls
and females consists of spouse battering and forced sex, eve teasing or
intimidation of the female in public spaces, sexual harassment on the job or at
the workplace, rape, acid throwing, kidnapping etc. Absence or insufficiency of
dowry becomes a source of the bride’s maltreatment, victimization and even
‘accidental death’. The latter amounts to clandestine murder often made to look
like suicide. Rape, prostitution, drugs, smuggling, riots and terrorism are
increasingly affecting women. The trafficking of girls has been on rise lately.
A large number of such young girl children are being pushed into flesh trade
trafficked from countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Innocent and poor girls,
on false lures and promises of jobs, marriage or confession of undying love by
men, are being sold or deserted or forced into prostitution. Police raids
indicate that the phenomenon is no longer confined to demarcate red light areas
and the net has spread far and wide into slum areas, resettlement colonies, and
middle class residential areas, guest-houses in posh localities, luxurious
hotels and massage parlours. Indian courts are flooded with cases of crimes
against women including dowry deaths, wife beating and other forms of cruelty
to women are rampant. In fact, such acts seem to have grown by leaps and
bounds.
The realities of women especially in
rural India are difficult to comprehend. Women, most of the time are even
deprived of some of the fundamental human rights and this denial is justified
often in the name of tradition. In rural areas women are generally relegated
mainly to household duties and cheap labour. They are not perceived as
substantial income generating source. Without the power to work and earn a good
income, their voices are silenced, as they are economically dependent and have
no capacity to work and earn a living for them. The question that needs to be
answered is that in a society where men control the destiny of women how it is
possible to protect the human rights of women and make the women empowerment a
reality.
Empowerment of Girl Children and
Women:
The year 2001 was declared as
women empowerment year by the Central government. There are different steps
taken by the government in India regarding women empowerment. Some of these
steps are constitutional provisions, enactment of social legislations, enactment
of labour legislations, and women welfare in five years plans, reservation in
representation and education, constitution of women commission and women cell,
subsidized loan facilities, etc.
Gender Parity can Boost India’s GDP by 27% - IMF:
IMF’s
Chief Cristina Lagarde speaking in her key note address at the launch of World’s
20 largest economies said today (6 - 09 –
2015) at Ankara( Capital of Turkey) that “we have esimates that,if the number
of female wokers were to increase to the same level as the number of men, GDP
in the US would expand by 5%, by 9% in Japan, and by 27% in India.
Constitutional
provisions:
Several
constitutional provisions protect children in India. Among them:
- Article 15 affirms the right of the
State to make special provision for women and children.
- Article 24 provides that no child
below the age of 14 shall be employed to work… in any hazardous
employment.
- Article 39 (e) of the Directive
Principles of State Policy provides that children of tender age should not
be abused and that they should not be forced by economic necessity to
enter vocations unsuited to their age or strength.
- Article 39 (f) requires children to
be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and
in conditions of freedom and dignity, and that childhood and youth be
protected against exploitation and moral and material abandonment.
- Article 45 of the Directive
Principles of State Policy provides for free and compulsory education for
all children until they complete the age of 14.
Policies and Plans:
· Prior to the Fifth
Five-Year Plan, the government’s focus was on child welfare through the
promotion of basic minimum services for children. This culminated in the
adoption of the National Policy for Children, in 1974.
· The Fifth Five-Year
Plan (1974-79) saw a shift of focus from welfare to development and the
integration and co-ordination of services after the Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) 1975.
· The Sixth Five-Year
Plan strengthened child welfare and development. It led to the spatial
expansion and enrichment of child development services through a variety of
programmes.
· The focus of the
Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-97) shifted to human development through advocacy,
mobilization and community empowerment.
· The Government of
India declared its commitment to every child in the Ninth Five-Year Plan
(1997-2002).
· The Tenth Five-Year
Plan advocated a convergent/integrated rights-based approach to ensure the
survival, development, protection and participation of children. It set targets
for children: all children to complete five years of schooling by 2007;
reduction in gender gaps in literacy and wage rates by at least 50%, by 2007;
reduction in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) to 45 per 1,000 live births by 2007,
and 28 by 2012; reduction of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 2 per 1,000 live
births by 2007 and to 1 per 1,000 live births by 2012; arresting the decline in
the child sex ratio; and universalisation of the ICDS scheme.
· Swabhiman,
meaning self-respect in English, was initiated in 2005 to address these
challenges through a simple yet effective approach. The programme is
specifically aimed at realization of both individual and collective self-esteem
and inner strength for marginalized and socially excluded women and adolescent
girls through innovative community practices.
· The draft approach
paper of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012) prepared by the Planning Commission
emphatically stated that ‘Development of the child is at the centre of the
Eleventh Plan’. While continuing with the rights-based approach to child
development, the plan recognizes the importance of a holistic approach,
focusing both on outcomes and indicators for child development as well as
macro-perspective trends and governance issues.
Despite
these laws, policies and commitments, the ground realities are as follows:
Ground realities:
·
Sex ratio in the 0-6 Years age group has fallen to an all time
low of 914 girls to 1000 boys
·
One in three girls die in the first year of life and one in four
do not live to celebrate their fifteenth birthday
·
Two out of five girls are malnourished and every second
adolescent girl is anemic
·
Six out of ten girls are child brides and four out of ten have
their first child before they are 18 years old
· India ranks 113 out
of 135 countries as per World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report
2011
- With more
than one-third of its population below 18 years, India has the largest
young population in the world.
- Only 35% of
births are registered, impacting name and nationality.
- One out of
16 children die before they attain the age of 1, and one out of 11 die
before they are 5 years old.
- 35% of the
developing world’s low-birth-weight babies are born in India.
- 40% of
child malnutrition in the developing world is in India.
- Out of
every 100 children, 19 continue to be out of school.
- Of every
100 children who enroll, 70 drop out by the time they reach the secondary
level.
- Of every
100 children who drop out of school, 66 are girls.
- 65% of
girls in India are married by the age of 18 and become mothers soon after.
- India
is home to the highest number of child labourers in the world. India has
the world’s largest number of sexually abused children, with a child below
16 raped every 155th minute, a child below 10 every 13th hour, and at
least one in every 10 children sexually abused at any point in time.
· According
to UNDP Human Development Report (2009), 88% of pregnant women (age15-49) were
found to be suffering from anemia. India has a dangerously imbalanced sex
ratio, the chief reason being female infanticides and sex-selective abortions.
According to UNICEF’s “State of the World’s Children-2009” report, 47% of
India's women aged 20–24 were married before the legal age of 18.
· According
to UNDP Human Development Report (2014), on educational indicators, India performs slightly better
with 11.7 expected years of schooling, the same as the average for medium human
development countries, of which India is a part. This is a measure of how many
years of schooling a child is expected to receive if prevailing enrollment
patterns continue. The world average is 12.2 years, while the developed countries
average 16.3 years. Among the BRICS
countries, India's average is the least. Currently, Indians of 25 years or more have received just 4.4 years of
schooling on average, compared to a global average of 7.7 years.
· HDR 2014 introduces a gender development index (GDI) for the first time,
which measures gender development gaps among 148 countries. While the overall
gender gap is an 8% deficit for women, the income gap is shockingly high — per
capita income for men is more than double that of women.
· Citing recent estimates of giving universal basic old age and disability
pension, basic childcare benefits, universal healthcare, social assistance and
100-day employment guarantee, the report says India would need to spend just
about 4% of its GDP to
provide all this.
2011 Census:
The Census indicated a continuing
preference for male children over female children. A matter of overwhelming
concern lies in the fact that the child sex ratio has slipped to its lowest
since India's independence. The sex
ratio (the number of females per 1,000 males) for the 0-6 age group has
dramatically dropped to 914 in 2011, from 927 in 2001. This means in a
decade when the country enjoyed unprecedented economic growth, it also became a
terrifyingly hostile place to be conceived or born as a girl. "It's
extremely alarming and everybody should be worried and careful against this
malaise," said Girija Vyas, chairperson of the National Commission for
Women. She said "Convictions under the Act are very low. Female foeticide
is high even in states that have high education and are affluent. The
government needs to step in and act urgently.” The overall sex ratio in the
country improved from 933 to 940, the highest recorded sex ratio since the 1971
census. For the first time in the last decade, females have outnumbered males
in Goa which has recorded an 8.17 percent growth in overall
population. Three states-J&K, Gujarat and Bihar, showed a decline in
the sex ratio.
Population of children (0-6 years):
The
population of children (0-6 years) in the country has recorded a decline of
about five million over the previous census, according to Census 2011. While the decline in male population (0-6 years) is 2.42 percent, it is
higher at 3.80 percent in females. Uttar Pradesh (29.7 million), Bihar
(18.6 million), Maharashtra (12.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (10.5
million) and Rajasthan (10.5 million) comprise 52 percent children in the 0-6 Years
age group. The total number of children
in the country in the age group of 0-6 years is 158.8 million, about five
million less than the 2001 census figures and marks a negative growth of 3.08
percent.
Why Caring For Girl
Child Is Vital for India’s Growth?
On October 11, 2012, we have celebrated the world’s First
International Day of the Girl Child, supported by the United Nations resolution,
it is time to ponder how India fares in terms of supporting better
opportunities for girls, and bridging the gender inequality in areas such as
access to education, nutrition, legal rights, medical care, and protection from
discrimination and violence.
What is disturbing is the grim statistics, leaving little
room for doubt on why an international day to focus on girls’ issues is significant and necessary. Not without reason? Let all
of us think about it. India loses three million girls in infanticide.
Women have been at the forefront of shaping our future, yet, we are still fighting the medieval menace of
gender inequality. A recent UN report terms India as the most dangerous place in the world to be a baby girl. What a sad distinction to have?
Consider this. United Nations Department
of Economic and Social Affairs data for 150 countries over 40 years shows that
India and China are the only two countries in the world where female infant
mortality is higher than male infant mortality in the 2000s. It indicates that
an Indian girl child aged 1-5 years is 75% more likely to die than an Indian
boy, making this the worst gender differential in child mortality for any
country in the world.
Fortunately, there is a growing recognition that support
for girls and their basic human rights are vital for healthy communities. And,
there is no reason, why we can’t catalyze the women empowerment and investment in girls’ education which can significantly boost the prosperity of our
nation.
“Economic
growth is driven by women.” Look
into the deep meaning, there is truth in this. Indeed, an increase in women’s
employment, in both the developed and developing world, has arguably been the
biggest engine of global growth in recent decades. And, India can capitalize on
this.
The future of
our economy lies in attaining gender equality in true sense, and this is smart economics for the world. Women’s empowerment is not just about rights, improved economic opportunities for women lead to
better outcomes for families, societies, business and nation. Not only are
better educated women more productive, but they raising healthier, better
educated children.
There is huge potential to raise income per head in
developing countries, where fewer girls go to school than boys. More than
two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women. Also, with manufacturing
work, traditionally a male preserve, declining a bit, and expanding jobs in
services there is a reduced demand for manual labor. It has put the both the
genders on a more equal footing.
It is imperative for us to create a more inclusive environment by increasing the number of women in science, technology and
communications to enrich
our talent pool, intellectual capital and economic opportunities by encouraging
young girls and women to develop cross-functional hybrid skills from an early
age. Who knows they might be the next amongst the most powerful women leading
the top companies in the world.
To make it happen, we
need to collaborate across the ecosystem and achieve effective implementation of programs and policies promoting equal human rights and
opportunities for girls. Let not the
girl child face barriers at any stage of her life including violations of her
right to get access to quality education, proper healthcare, and protection
from abuse and exploitation.
Sustainable
development in India will not be possible without a holistic approach to women’s
empowerment and livelihood. Certainly, improving girls’ lives has a ripple
effect. What is good for them is good for societal progress and for
all of humanity. India could emerge as an
economic powerhouse, only if it cares for the girl child, thereby, boosting
economic prosperity. A little shift in mindset along with a strong collective
will to act is all we need to achieve this.
Let inclusivity become a way of life for us. Are we ready? This
means, inclusive development is possible only, if we include girls and women in
all spheres of development.
Canada
is a world leader in promoting the health of women and children in developing
countries and in reducing the unacceptable mortality rates that these
vulnerable populations face each year. In addition to focusing world attention
and resources through the G-8 Muskoka Leaders’ Summit in 2010, Canada has also
been instrumental in helping focus global efforts where the needs are most
pressing and coordinating how to address those needs most effectively.
Measures
to Empower Girl Children and Women:
(1) Education:
If survival of girl child is
necessary for the existence of the world, their education is equally important
for her development. As such education, employment opportunities and a
supportive home and societal environment are keys to their empowerment.
The MD of the World Bank, Washington
DC, Mr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while addressing the annual meeting of World
Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in 2009, pointed out the importance of
girl effort on development in these words:
“Investing in Women is smart economics.
Investing in girls-catching them upstream-is even smarter economics.”
Educating girls yields a higher return in improving the local economy rather
than any other type of investment. For example, an educated girl will use 90% of her future income towards her family,
while boys invest only 35%. Similarly, former UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, pointed out that “short-changing
girls is not only a matter of gender discrimination, it is a bad economics and
bad societal policy. Experience has shown over and over again, that investment
in girls’ education translates directly and quickly into better nutrition for
the whole family, better health care, declining fertility, poverty reduction
and better overall economic performance”.
Obviously, these are long term and far
reaching benefits of education to end the struggle against gender
discrimination. Education is the greatest weapon in knowing their rights and
how to protect and promote them. When girls are educated, they have better
career and employment opportunities in life. They are better able to avoid
commercial sexual exploitation. They gain self confidence, learn the life,
technical and practical skills to demonstrate their capabilities and challenge
stereotypes about women.
(2) The following
recommendations of Beijing Platform for Action should be implemented.
In order to help girl children survive and reach their full potential, the
Beijing Platform for Action recommended that governments, agencies and private
sector to:
(a)
Eliminate all forms of discrimination against the girl - child;
(b)
Eliminate negative cultural attitudes and practices against
girls;
(c)
Promote and protect the right of girl - child and increase
awareness of her needs and potential;
(d)
Eliminate discrimination against girls in health and nutrition;
(e)
Eliminate the economic exploitation of girl labour and protect
girls at work;
(f)
Eradicate violence against girl-child;
(g)
Promote the girl-child’s awareness of and participation in
social, economic and political life.
(h)
Strengthen the role of the family in improving the status of the
girl-child.
(3)
Strict enforcement of
laws:
All forms of discrimination
against the girl child and violation of her rights must be eliminated by
undertaking strong measures both preventive and punitive within and outside the
family. These would relate specifically to strict enforcement of laws against
parental sex selection and the practices of female forticide, female
infanticide, child marriage, child abuse, child marriage, and child
prostitution etc.
(4)
Removal of
discrimination in the treatment:
Removal of discrimination in
the treatment of the girl child within the family and outside and projection of
a positive image of the girl child must be actively fostered.
(5)
Substantial Investments:
There should be special
emphasis on the needs of the girl child and earmarking of substantial
investments in the areas relating to food and nutrition, health and education,
and in vocational education.
(6)
Special Focus on Girl
Children:
In implementing programmes
for eliminating child-labour, there should be a special focus on girl children.
Added to these, special care should be taken to reduce gender disparities,
infant mortality and malnutrition, to prevent female foeticide and infanticide
to increase enrolment and retention of girls in schools besides elimination of
child labour.
(7)
Mass Campaigns:
Discrimination against girl child is a
curse for the society. Mass campaigns in favour of survival of girl child and
giving her human right including education must be initiated to bring a
positive change. Once the platform for girl’s survival is taken up by the
public, not only will the girls survive but their health and education can also
be taken care of. Such campaigns need to be organized particularly in the
villages highlighting the threat to the life of the girl child and creating
awareness in the villages about the dangerous consequences which the society as
a whole will have to face without the girl children. The issue has to be
discussed on religious, cultural, economic, political and social level.
(8)
Computer Literacy,
Technical skills and Self-defense:
Computer literacy and
enhancement of technical skills among girls must be ensured. Added to this,
self-defense training, as KARATE, must be introduced and made compulsory for
girl children to make them self reliant and cope with unforeseen circumstances.
(9)
Save the Girl Child
for the Future of the World:
Even to-day in the 21st
Century the position remains unchanged even after education and financial
independence. Hence, people and Governments must be committed to protect the
girl child – future hope of all nations.
(10)
Reduction in Gender
Imbalance:
Already some of the
developing countries like India are experiencing the deficit of women and
children. As this leads gender imbalance and which in turn leads to several
social problems like finding the life partner difficult. For example - Punjab,
Haryana and Rajasthan.
Conclusion:
If the society has to grow
into a civilized social fabric, the enlightened mass has the responsibility to
shoulder and sharing the responsibility of maintaining the balance in
sex-ratio. This is possible not only through discussions in seminars, but also by
mobilizing and empowering the woman and children by organizing the society for
equality in all spheres of social and national activities where any
discrimination of gender basis is entrenched.
References:
2011 Census Report, GOI
Census
2011 report, NFHS-III, State of the World’s Children, 2012 UNICEF
The Economic Times: 7-09-2015
Millennium Report
Vital Statistics, United
Nations
UNDP Human Development Report (2009)
UNICEF’s “State of the World’s Children-2009”
Report
UNDP Human Development Report (2014)
Comments
Post a Comment