I decided to write this blog after reading an article in The Economist. Gendercide word is taken from a book by Mary Anne Warren which means murder of baby girls(or abortion) at a large extent. This article is based on the increasing boys' to girls' ratio or the distorted sex ratio. I would refer some ideas from the article and present my inputs on these.
There are three main reasons for the existence of this problem.
1. The requirement of hard physical labor especially in developing countries2. Parents think that their daughter will leave them after her marriage and then, when they are aged, they need someone to take care of them3. Traditional thinking that they(parents) should have a son as an heir to their and socio-economic reasons
There may be few other reasons for that but I found above reasons to be more relevant and important. Now, let's see how this problem of gendercide can be solved. Following are some ways to control the problem
1. Rise in the Service Sector Jobs:
Since service sector is one of the major reasons behind the economic empowerment of women in the developed countries. While in developing nations there is a need of hard physical labor so parents prefer boys to girls as they(boys) are fit for this requirement of hard physical labor. Now, if there will be more jobs in the service sector parents will start accepting girls though it would not be easy but I am confident that a rise in the number of jobs in the service sector will change parents pro-boys-mindset to some extent.
2. Strong Social Security System :
Now, since parents believe that their daughter will leave them after her marriage so they need someone who can take care of them when they are aged so they prefer boys. But I think if enough social security is provided to the senior citizens by govt. there will surely be a change in the mindset of the people and they will start accepting girls. Because then they wouldn't be dependent on any one hence they wouldn't bother whether a girl or a boy is born. The above mentioned cartoon exactly represents that where in the parents are dependent on their children regarding their social security. In the US where parents mortgage their homes and get an agreed amount payment from the bank till they live. Such options, if provided by the government in other countries, can really help in solving this problem called gendercide.
Then since there are also some socio-economic reasons for the existence of gendercide like in India dowry. Such social problems should also be eliminated from the society.
There is need of television campaigns, strict gender discrimination laws, allocation of incentives on the birth of girl child and many such schemes.
Then there is a thought which says that wealth and development(like Hariyana, Punjab and Gujrat) is not a solution to the problem of distorted sex ratio and this problem is also there in some parts(Asian Americans) of the US. Here we need to understand one thing that economical and technological changes happen at a faster rate but the society and the traditions or the mindset change at a slower rate. Also in most of the cases social changes(mindset and traditions) are a byproduct of the economical and technological changes.
Now the same thing applies to the Asian Americans. Since Asia is a traditional continent so when Asians go to America they(Asians) may not have the same mindset as that of the Americans that is, they(Asians) may still prefer boys to girls. And there is nothing surprising in this because Asian-Americans haven't spent as much time in the US as the actual(native) Americans have. Asian-Americans may also have the same mindset as that of the native Americans but for that we should give them as much time as the native Americans have spent there in the US and we should wait for their(Asian- Americans) 2 or 3 generations because traditions and the mindset do not change over night. It may be that we cannot afford this slow speed but things take their own time.
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