The day Homo Erectus became Homo Sapiens, the male must have realized he was physically stronger than the female, may be they fought tooth and nail at first, till the woman realized that it was no use trying to win over the man physically and eventually gave up. The man must have gloated that day in triumph at subjugating the female; he is still gloating! He must have begun to assert himself very early in history; he is sill asserting.
The woman ‘gave in’ centuries ago and she is still ‘giving in’. Women started to suffer from the day they developed the gift of feelings and emotions. She is still suffering. Man has come a long way, he has become ‘civilized’, but his instinct to dominate over the weaker sex has remained, in fact it has turned into an obsession, a need, with time. With ‘civilization’ the tools of oppression have become more ‘civilized’, more sophisticated, cultivated, advanced and techno savvy. In fact the whole process of advancement can be traced in the process of suppression of women.
Pinky, the little mother. Photo Zoya Zaidi
It must have started with the need to possess -land, property, women- and to gain control over them. Whoever was powerful got the maximum property, land, and then women may be, to serve him, to ‘comfort’ him, and to provide him ‘satisfaction’.
With property must have come the need to control and manage people, the need to rule, and with the need to rule the desire to have power.
With power comes the show of power, and what better way could there be to show power than the display of property. Property became a tool to ‘show his strength’. With strength came the need to assert strength, to bully the weak, to dispossess them and to become more powerful. With power and property greed took root. Not satisfied with what he already had, man wanted more. With the craving to have more, first petty squabbles with neighbors, then bigger conflicts with far off territories, then alliances with neighboring territories must have started.
With control of property, the instinct to bully grew leading to unprovoked assaults; attacks on the weak thus starting wars, first small and then on a larger scale. The need to maintain an army must have developed and the feeling of being stronger of the two sexes - the importance of being a man.
The beast in man resurfaced when he subjugated territory, he looted and possessed (read raped) women; not satisfied with just that, he brought them over along with him and forcefully kept them and used them, to ‘satisfy’ his needs, his sexual desires. Thus women were enslaved, becoming the spoil of war, a won-over property, as slaves, as a commodity, as a ‘thing’ to be possessed and used at will. Slowly a woman was reduced to the status of a slave, a thing, a ‘possession’, rather than a human being. Like all the rules of governance, rules regarding women and their conduct (read the determination of how much would be their limits, of how much they could be ‘allowed’ to do) were laid down. A whole campaign aimed at subjugation of women started.
Over the years her physical weakness was exploited to make her psychologically weak as well. Gradually a girl was indoctrinated to feel inferior, not only physically but psychologically, intellectually, and mentally. She was deprived of property rights- either at the very onset or by law slowly dispossessing her completely. Having lost all rights she lost power and with that the right to make decisions. Considered a commodity she could now be exchanged (e.g. by marriage), kept or rejected at will, and got rid of when not required, either by abandoning or later or even murder. Each time a man repressed a woman, he justified his action, to appease his conscience and mollify others in the society.
On the other hand, in order to continue possessing his property, even after death, the need of an heir, a son, became necessary. In marriage the groom demanded that the bride’s father also provide for his daughter’s maintenance, since she was now a financial ‘burden’ on him. And the system of dowry started. So, a girl became a potential financial drain on man and somewhere down the line it become a matter of prestige too, with more money and material goods asked in dowry. The girl was no longer desired.
Prabhuji mein tori binti karoon
Paiyan Paroon bar bar
Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Na Dije
Narak Dije Chahe Dar...
Oh, God, I beg of you,
I touch your feet time and again,
Next birth don't give me a daughter,
Give me Hell instead...
--An old Folk Song From Uttar Pradesh
First it was a girl or two killed on the sly, then man become bolder and bolder till female infanticide must have become the accepted norm. With the laws coming up against female infanticide, more sophisticated techniques are now sought after. With the availability of ultrasound technology for determining sex of the foetus, a simple and noninvasive technique, the slogan of many ultrasound sex-determination clinics is: “Spend five hundred rupees now save five lacks later” (meaning get a female foetus aborted, to later save dowry money).
It is a matter of grave concern that today in India we are discussing a thing like female foeticide. This term in itself envelopes myriads of meanings, it smacks of the fact that a) a girl is killed before she is born; b) that sex of a foetus is determined to be that of a female; c) it acknowledges that there is technology privy to this heinous crime; d) there are doctors involved in first determining the sex of the baby, then carrying out abortion; and e) there is crime involved in violating not one but many laws: the Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) 1994 Act, the Section 307 IPC (of attempt to murder) and along with crime of abetment of murder etc.
It speaks of a whole system gone corrupt, a whole society involved in conspiracy against women, against destruction of half the population of society, at the hands of monstrous practices becoming more and more rampant in a society fast losing its secular, social, and humanistic fabric. In today’s materialistic world a woman is fast being relegated to the rank of a commodity and marriage has become more of a business alliance than a sacred bond between two people.
The Little Dhoban. Photo Zoya Zaidi
Amniocentesis first started in India in 1974 as a part of a sample survey conducted at the All India Institute of Medial Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, to detect foetal abnormalities. These tests were later stopped by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), but their value had leaked out by then and 1979 saw the first sex determination clinic opening in Amritsar, Punjab. Even though women organizations across the country took up cudgels to put a stop to this new menace, but were helpless because of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. This is because the amniocentesis test was claimed to be used for detection of foetal abnormalities, which were permitted by the MTP Act. According to the MTP Act, if any abnormality is detected between 12 to 18 weeks of gestational period in the foetus, an abortion can be legally carried out up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.
In the absence of any law, all that the government could do was to issue circulars prior to 1985, banning the misuse of medical technology for sex determination in all government institutions. This, however, led to the mushrooming of private clinics all over the country.
In 1986, the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-selection (FASDSP), a social action group in Mumbai, initiated a campaign. Succumbing to public pressure, the Maharashtra government enacted the Maharashtra Regulation of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act1988, the first anti sex determination drive in the country. This was followed by a similar Act being introduced in Punjab in May 1994.
Both these were however repealed by the enactment of a central legislation, the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 28 September1994,
which banned sex determination tests all over the country. This Act carries a three-year imprisonment and Rs10, 000 fine for offenders. The implementation of this act initially faced problems as monitoring agencies had to be identified at all levels. It was therefore only in 1997 when the responsibility was delegated, that actual implementation of the act began [1].
There is still social complacency among all sections of society, which needs to be addressed. Since the advent of ultrasound and detection technique for sex-determination 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India, according to a study conducted recently in India, the first systematic study on female foeticide by an Indo-Canadian team. A shocking picture emerges-every year, about 50,000 unborn girls-one in every 25-are aborted [2] and as a result the number of girls has actually gone down drastically in India.
In 1997 UNPFA report “India Towards Population and Development Goals”, estimates that 48 million women were ‘missing’ from India’s population. The report states “If the sex ratio of 1036 females per 1000 males observed in some states of Kerala in 1991 had prevailed in the whole country, the number of would be 455 million instead of the 407 million (in the 1991 census). Thus, there is a case of between 32 to 48 million missing females in the Indian society as of 1991 that needs to be explained.” The 1991 census is only indicative of this disturbing trend when elsewhere in the world women outnumber men by 3 to 5 percent. There are 95 to 97 males to 100 females in Europe, the ratio is even less, 88 males to 100 females, in Russia, mainly due to causalities of World War 2 [1].
According to the UNICEF, 40 to 50 million girls have gone missing from Indian population since 1901 as a result of systematic gender discrimination in India [3].
As per consensus 2001, the child ratio in Punjab is 793 girls to 1000 boys. This is the lowest child ratio in the country (the average being 927 girls to 1000 boys) and as compared to 1991 consensus it shows a decline of 82 points [4]. India tops the list as far as illegal abortion and female foeticide are concerned. Of the 15 million illegal abortions carried out in the world in 1997, India accounted for 4 million, 90% of which were intended to eliminate the girl child [1].
Little girl gathering firewood. Photo Zoya Zaidi
On March 8, 2006 the Governor of New Delhi launched a campaign against selective abortions. In Delhi alone the situation is “becoming alarming”: only 814 girls are born for every 1000 boys in the Capital. While the 2001 consensus showed Delhi’s sex ratio to be 865 for age group 0-6 years, against the national average of 927 [5]. This has consistently increased over the years. ‘Saheli’, a Delhi based NGO, has reported that between 1978-82, nearly 78, 000 female fetuses were aborted after sex determination tests in the country. Between 1986-87 alone, 30, 000-50, 000 female fetuses had been aborted. Between 1982-92, the number of sex determination clinics multiplied manifold and nearly 13,000 sex determination tests were estimated to have been done in seven Delhi clinics themselves.
The irony of the whole situation is that in the 10 years since India enacted the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technologies (PNDT) Act, not a single person was convicted till very recently and in the beginning of April 2006 only two people were convicted, fined and pronounced five years of rigorous imprisonment. Only 23 cases have been registered under this act so far, according to India’s Health Minister Ambumoni Ramadoss’ s statement in the parliament last year [6].
Newborn Girls in Tripura Hospital.
As the world celebrates 11th July as the World Population Day, we will helplessly observe girls ‘missing’ from the worlds second most populated country, India. Ironically the theme of the running 2005-2006 year World Population Day was declared by United Nations to be ‘Equality Empowers’! The UNFPA Executive director, Thoraya Obaid, had remarked then, “Equality benefits equal opportunities to education, societies become more prosperous, where women have equal excess to income, assets and services, families become healthier. When both men and women are able to participate equally and exercise their full human rights, the world benefits” [7]. How far we are from this goal!
In conclusion I would like to share two of my poems on this grave problem. ‘Girl Unborn’, that highlights the appalling practice of female infanticide still being practiced in India, and ‘Missing Girls’ about the misuse of ultrasound technology in India.
Innocence. Photo Zoya Zaidi
Girl Unborn
My friend who came from the near by village,
Told me this story of human pillage,
That, whenever a baby girl was born,
It was, more often then not, declared
“Still-born!”
And as a little boy, he often wondered:
Did he hear the baby cry?
Or, it was just
a figment of his imagination?
Did he see a certain gleam?
In the midwife’s dark-black eyes,
As she patted a bulge by her side…
But, why was she unable to sleep,
Tossing and turning in her bed,
In nightmarish dreams all night…?
‘Till one day the “Dai” went crazy!
Vacant eyed, she sat with her baby!
The GIRL was a
“Still-Born-Baby!”
But, did he notice the familiar blue?
On the neck of the baby, true!
They say, an act oft-repeated
By force of habit,
Can spell your own “doom”,
If you don’t cap it!!!
And now they say:
There is Ultrasound!
You don’t “need” the “Dai” around…
"Dai"-colloquial for midwife, they were employed & paid heavy pockets, to “strangulate” the girl-child, and to “keep-quiet”…
Too Many. Photo Zoya Zaidi
The Missing Girls
Where have all the ‘missing girls’ gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, to the grave yard’!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, to the grave yard’!
She missed the bus
While being born:
They pulled her back,
Wrung her neck,
Threw her into the
Trashcan!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, to the Trashcan!
As an infant, she missed the bus:
Her brother got all the milk,
Her brother got all the rice,
She, only the watery starchy broth!
She missed the bus to the school,
Her brother got on…
‘Cause:
She had no shoes,
She had no clothes,
She had no books,
How could she then get on?
But she had flour,
Vegetables, rice and spice,
She cooked the food!
She missed the bus,
When she sat down to eat:
Her father and brother ate up all!
The crumbs were all she got…
But she had a broom,
A mop, a wiper:
She swept and wiped the floor,
Cleaned off, her own blood!
Whatever was left
Her tears washed-up!
She missed the bus to ‘college ‘ too
She was ‘married’,
Already with a child or two!
But she got on the bus
To the graveyard!
She went up in flames in Shamshan Ghat…
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, to the graveyard!
Gone! Gone, to ShamshanGhat!
She got the bus to market too:
She was sold for a thousand or two!
Again and again…
She got on the bus to Hell too!
Again and again…
Oh, yes! Here she got on
For sure!!!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, gone to ‘Hell Gate’!
For ages they wondered:
What to do?
How to-get-rid-off
This unwanted baggage
Of doom!
They used the pillow on her face,
To stifle the scream,
Lest it was heard!
The very first scream of the ‘birth’!
She could not even get to cry,
Suppressed was the very first out cry!
Women whispered in corridors,
Midwife could not sleep after daily chores:
Their souls were black
as the night...
Which kept them awake-
Conscience pricking
eyelids and eyes-
All night!
Then one-day technology came:
What a boon!
Shot to fame!
Now we can ‘do the job’!
Without a clue!
Who can say,
‘She’ ever was?
‘Cause,
She never was!!
Oh! So easy:
Just a scan!
And then, the forceps &
‘Sound’, & whirring of
Suction pumps…
Or,
‘Dilatation’, & ‘Curettage’
Hear a bit of crunch!
The ‘job’ is done!!
In a minute or two…
No evidence left behind
Oh! What a find!
(This USG is just divine!!)
All is thrown into the ‘Dustbin’,
Who can say?
There ever was
A ‘Girl’ Missing ’!!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, to the dustbins’!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, gone…’
‘Missing girl’, who never was!
No funeral-pyre,
No ‘Shamshan Ghat’!
No evidence, no clue:
The crime is ‘Missing’!
& So is the ‘Girl’!
The girl is ‘missing’
& So is the ‘evil’!
& The black-soul can go on…
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, to the grave yard’!
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, gone…
Now, the men are hard pressed too:
How to get a wife or two?
No problem!
Go to the market place,
Get a wifey, get a slave! ** She will wash and clean up too
Cannot ‘blame’ you whatever you do!
A machine for bearing children too…
A baby every year or two:
(If it is boy, well and good!
If a girl-you know, what to do?)
You keep your land & inheritance too
Just like a slave in olden times…
Just like the slaves, right now…
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! ‘Gone, gone, gone…
Where have all the missing girls gone?
Gone! Gone, gone, without a trace…
Wiped off from the face of Human race…
Is her value really at stake?
Time is witness to her plight!
And so are you!
And so am I!
* USG-Ultra Sonography
** Women are being ’sold’ by their own poor parents to land owners in Rajisthan , UP and from poorer States of Bihar, West Bengal & Bangladesh; this caters to the ‘demand’ for women in these states to the already existing acute deficit.
This poem may not be re-produced without express permission of the author.
Newborn babies in Tripura: http://.monstersandcritics.com-India World Population Day. Microsoft Internet Explorer
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/article_1032807.
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