Female infanticides and sex selective abortions in india

India has a highly masculine sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching adulthood. Tribal societies in India have a less masculine sex ratio than all other caste groups. This, in spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health facilities. It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the highly masculine sex ratio in India can be attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions.

All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child have been banned in India, due to incidents of these tests being used to get rid of unwanted female children before birth. Female infanticide (killing of girl infants) is still prevalent in some rural areas. The abuse of the dowry tradition has been one of the main reasons for sex-selective abortions and female infanticides in India.

The practice of female deselection in India could be attributed to socioeconomic reasons. There is a belief by certain people in India that female children are inherently less worthy because they leave home and family when they marry, a system known to anthropologists as patrilocality. There is also a clear link in modern day India with the success of Family planning, where by couples only have 1 or 2 children, and wish to ensure that they have a male child - as opposed to older times when they could consider having several children in the hopes of a male child.

Studies in India have indicated three factors of female deselection in India, which are economic utility, sociocultural utility, and religious functions. The factor as to economic utility is that studies indicate that sons are more likely than daughters to provide family farm labor or provide in or for a family business, earn wages, and give old-age support for parents. Upon marriage, a son makes a daughter-in-law an addition and asset to the family providing additional assistance in household work and brings an economic reward through dowry payments, while daughters get married off and merit an economic penalty through dowry charges. The sociocultural utility factor of female deselection is that, as in China, in India's patrilineal and patriarchal system of families is that having at least one son is mandatory in order to continue the familial line, and many sons constitute additional status to families. The final factor of female deselection is the religious functions that only sons are allowed to provide, based on Hindu tradition, which mandate that sons are mandatory in order to kindle the funeral pyre of their late parents and to assist in the soul salvation.

In some countries, including India, it is currently illegal to determine the sex of a child during pregnancy using ultra-sound scans. Laboratories are prohibited to reveal the fetus's sex during such scans. While most established labs comply with the law, determined persons can find a cheaper lab that would tell them. Like the Chinese, the Indians also use the postnatal alternative, which is sex-selective infanticide. Some turn to people called dais, traditional midwives, historically female, who offer female deselection, letting the baby boys live but killing the newborn girls by giving them a sharp jerk, that is, turning them upside-down and snapping their spinal cords, and then declaring them stillborn.

Laws that curb female infanticide: Laws against Dowry; Laws against Sex Determination; Laws favoring Girl Education; Laws favoring Women's right; Laws favoring Equal Property Share for a daughter;

Absence of laws that favour female infanticide: No laws to curb wedding expense by the bride's parents alone; No laws to curb divorced men and widowers from remarrying unmarried women from poorer background, hence making remarriage for a woman harder;

The most important task for the Indian government is to control population and increase awareness on the benefits of controlled human population which includes better lifestyle, education, environment, health and well being of every individual.

"We two, ours one", "Girl or Boy, let there just be one child" are awareness campaigns started by the government of India, but there is lack of laws that enforce single child.

The British medical journal The Lancet reported in early 2006 that there may have been close to 10 million female fetuses aborted in India over the past 20 years. This is extrapolated partly on the basis of reduction of female-to-male sex ratio from 945 per 1000 in 1991 to 927 per 1000 in 2001. The female-to-male sex ratio is even lower in cases where a couple has had a previous daughter, but no sons, dropping to 759 to 1000 for the second child if the first was a daughter, and 719 to 1000 for a third child if the first two were both daughters. However, the Indian Medical Association disputed the findings, saying gender selection had dropped since a court ruling outlawed the practice in 2001. However, some say that the laws have not been effectively upheld, and successful prosecutions remain non-existent.

The American Buddhist reports in an article by Iqbal Latif that "Ultrasounds are taken to monitor the health of unborn children, so doctors always know their sex. Doctors tell parents, a practice that is illegal in India, yet common. Then they exercise their "right to choose." Sex selection is a violation of law and unethical. But the patriarchal society continues to turn a blind eye towards it or offer perverted excuses to justify its existence."

"Increasing female feticide in India could spark a demographic crisis where fewer women in society will result in a rise in sexual violence and child abuse as well as wife-sharing, the United Nations warned. As a result, the United Nations says an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India. In most parts of India, sons are viewed as breadwinners who will look after their parents and carry on the family name, but daughters are viewed as financial liabilities for whom they will have to pay substantial dowries to get married off."