I. Meaning of female foeticide: The killing of female foetuses is known as female. Foeticide.
II. Causes of female foeticide:
(i) Use of medical tests: Every year thousands and thousands of female infants are killed while they are still in their mother's womb. By using medical tests such as scanning it is possible to detect the sex of the unborn foetus. With the help of doctors any paramedical staff, some parents resort to the inhuman practices of aborting female foetuses.
(ii) Financial Burden: Unwise parents justify killing of female babies even before their birth by saying that a daughter would bring an enormous amount of financial burden in future, as they have to pay dowry to get married and, hence they would rather not allow her to be born. This expenditure is in addition to the gift or cash, they are expected to hand over to the son-in-law in the form of dowry.
(iii) Poverty of the parents is another cause of it.
III. Meaning of female Infanticide: There is a widely prevalent belief in our society that female infanticide was an inhuman practice, which was in existence only in ancient times. But the merciless killings of newly born female infants taking place in different parts of the country have shown us that female infanticide is not a forgotton incident of a by gone age, but very much a present reality. While several thousands of female infants are killed even before they are born, thousands and thousands of others are murdered immediately after their birth. This practice is more common among poor households, because financial resources are required, but a newborn infant can be killed by stuffing poisonous food grains, through strangulation or suffocation. Media has reported on the wide-spread prevalence of female infanticide in some regions of Tamilnadu, Bihar and Rajasthan. Yet, to this day the practice has not been checked. There are police outposts in most of the regions, but they have done precious little to check its occurrence. Has any parent been punished for an act, which is nothing short of murder?
IV. Causes of female Infanticide:
(i) Poverty and other socio-economic reasons: If parents have to reach a stage where they can kill an urban foetus or a newborn child, what could be the reason? Is it poverty alone or are there other reasons? In our society, which is male dominated, for centuries, preference has been given to male children because there is a belief that a son not only carries the family's name forward but will also provide the security and shelter needed by his parents in their old age.
(ii) Patrilocal system and patrilineal families and economic consideration: Since a majority of Indian families are patrilocal (a system of residence where a woman, upon marriage moves to her husband's house) and patrilineal (a system of inheritance where property is transferred in the male line) many families are reluctant to spend money on a daughter's future development. Their argument is that resources spent on a daughter's upbringing actually bring no returns in terms of economic rewards. So economic considerations carry an important weight in decisions to kill female foetuses or infants.
(iii) To check division of agricultural land holdings: You will be surprised to know that even in many rich families female foetuses or infants are killed because they do not want the property to be taken out of the family in the form of dowry. This is especially true of families with large holdings.
(iv) Wrong attitudes of the people: A female is always viewed as lesser than a male. Her status is lower. She is seen as a daughter, wife or mother of a male rather than an individual with an independent identity of her own. These kinds of attitudes form a low value synodrome around the female sex, which works towards perpetuating such practices as female infanticide.
