Female Infanticide Persuasive Essay

According to the UNICEF report in just 2006, studies disclosed that 10 million young girls were killed either before they were born or promptly after by their parents in the year of 1986 (which is not that long ago if you put that number into perspective). But why would anyone want to deliberately kill an innocent soul, let alone their own child? Female Infanticide and Gendercide is defined as the conscious killing of female, newborn babies which can happen from getting killed by their own blood or by an abortion. Even though acts as these are illegal, we still see this is a persistent problem today mainly in the cultures of China and India.

“A thief has come,” is a simple yet complex Rajasthani saying in India when a daughter is born. The hatred with female girls in this patriarchy of society is exceedingly frustrating with me because I am already aware that in India the reason for this hatred is mostly economic and all surrounding a “dowry.” What I can’t quite grasp is how women are treated less than men inside of the womb and outside of the womb as the young girls who do survive turn into older women, how their only purpose in society is not to prosper but

to have male children, and how 10 million girls are either missing from this world or have died at the hands of their father or mother. Furthermore, if female babies do survive they are subjected to emotional/physical abuse, neglect, and so forth. India’s government outlawed the concept of dowries in 1961 when they slowly realized that this is a problem, but unfortunately, this practice still remains. “Kulwant's daily life consisted of beatings and abuse from her husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Once, she says, they even attempted to set her on fire,” according to a BBC article which tells a story of a victim who had to endure abuse for not giving birth to a male child, only five years ago. I’m not sure what it’s going to take for people in this society to stop dehumanizing women as less than men- before they are even born or after.

Additionally, numerous people may question and want a better explanation as to why something like this is such a reoccurring issue. In China, the government once enforced a “one-child policy” law that prohibits couples to have one child and as stated before the reasons for this in India is predominantly due to economic reasons. However, there are other aspects which play a role in this crisis.

Another, significant aspect to Female Infanticide are the future implications it is going to have for the people in these countries as well as the permanent, social and financial consequences.

“Some population scientists maintain that if the current trend goes unchecked, women will eventually become an "endangered" sex in China and India,” according to author Guo Baogang. “Millions of male bachelors will have to search to find a wife, many of them will end up living alone all their life, and prostitution and violence against women may result.” I believe that this would be a huge consequence that they are more than likely going to have to deal with. The fact that China and India are one of the most populous countries in the world yet over a million female girls are absent from this world is extremely

absurd.