Boulevard of Broken dreams

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"India kills her daughters in millions" screamed the headlines in Times of India. What should be a proclamation of joy instead are the three most dreaded words of a new mother - "It's a girl." When did our society that worshipped Goddesses turn to the woman-hating, disgusting society? Infants are killed as soon as they are born. Of those who survive pass the fetus stage, many will die before they turn six. There is a 75% more chance of a girl dying than a boy. That's the highest differential in the world.
So, why do they do this? If the cost of your daughter's wedding was your entire life's savings and maybe more, wouldn’t you think twice about having a daughter then? Would you condemn someone else if they did not want to have a daughter? A few months ago, in Western India, a teenager committed suicide. 19-yr old Priya consumed poison because she was being pestered by her in-laws for money, a lot of money. Five of her family members including her husband have been arrested. In India, this is called 'Dowry Death'. Dowry is a sum of money or gifts that a bride's family pays to the groom’s family at the wedding and it is almost always a very significant amount of money. Dowry was banned 50 years ago, but as a tradition it still very much exists. It's extensively practiced around the country. Sometimes the relatives pester the woman so much even after the wedding, that they, unable to bear the trauma, commit suicide. And sometimes they are even killed. And that ‘is’ a big enough reason for parents to wish for a boy.
In India there are 60 million females missing. That is one-fifth of the total population of USA. We would need 37 million more women, according to the last census, just to equalize the number of men and women in India. ...

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...past, our medical professionals who honor the Hippocratic oath over the allure of easy money, the Government officials who refuse to participate in corruption and establish and enforce laws that protect and value girls. Those in authority, are the ones who establish the standard of justice for ever family and society; and we as parents and grandparents are the ones who determine the generational patterns of behavior that define the future. If we are ever to see an end to this social evil of Gendercide, it is going to require all of us to think differently, to find a whole new way of thinking and educating. We need to defend equality and justice.
“Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression… Our endeavors must be about the liberation of the woman, the emancipation of the man and the liberty of the child.”- Nelson Mandela

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