Area of study
This research was carried out in a village called Jagaddala which is found in Rajshashi – Manda region, Naogaon district, India , south east Asia. This place is basically occupied by Indians who are basically agriculturalists. They cave small farms to carry out their agriculture. Most people here live below the poverty level tracing from the kinds of housing they have, the kinds of farming that they do, subsistence farming one and also the property they have. These are some of the indications for the low life levels in this place.
Nature of the issue
The issue of gender discrimination is one of the major impediments in the south Asia apart from poverty which is the chief source of all other problems in the lives of these people that stay here. The people of India at large and the entire south Asia value the boy child than the girl child
Reasons for gender discrimination
In this research, I managed to find out some of the reasons why this is so and the following possible reasons came out:
This research revealed that girls are a kind of a bother to most families in that they become a burden in their upbringing. In relation to this the costs that are related to the girl child upbringing include the costs that happen to accrue especially during marriages where the girl child is more expensive as compared to the boys. These costs include the cost of wedding which is always paid by the bride or the bride’s family and on top of this dowry must be paid either in cash or in kind to the bridegroom’s family. For good marriages very high dowry is paid. This came to be the chief reason in this area and south Asia at large. So many families would prefer sons so as to get the bride wealth and at the same time minimize on the expenses especially during marriage.
In addition to the costs that are incurred during marriage, the married women are expected by the society to live closely with the family of the husband, meaning that the sons will still enjoy being with their parents unlike their sister. With the sons close to their parents, the parents can still enjoy the services of their sons i.e. the sons can still use the family land and feed them or the family can still enjoy services that the sons used to provide in the family businesses among others. Looking at this, many people look at it as if girl child is not important at all and are seen as expenses to the families.
Other reasons why the girl child is discriminated in Asia especially in India is that the benefits of the boy child extend to the non materialistic benefits to the family. These include the protection and the love that the sons can still provide to the family. The sons also act as a way of preserving a family of certain clan. So having a boy child is very important to the people in Asia and especially in India.
Basing on these facts about India, the coming of technology is a force to recon with especially in the Asian process of masculinisation. The new technology to the people of Asia is a booster to the slimming of chances of giving birth to girls. So in India and entire Asia, the birth rate of girls can far below that of the boys. Despite the fact that the society in India still use the natural way and wait for the child’s sex at birth but some people do take the initiative to know the sex of the child before birth. If the sex is not convincing then the possible way is abortion. However, it is long since this situation started and it is noticed that this imbalanced system can not continue in a society for long.
In addition to the technology issue, the global arena is also relying on two mechanisms in sex selection which also affect the places like India and Asia at large. Diffusing the idea of sex selection to the rest of the world and intensification of this general concept of sex selection in the already affected areas are also forces that make it hard to stop it. When this practice becomes known in places that it was not there before and is embraced and at the same time is intensifying in the places that it already exists, and the perceived benefits are encouraged then it acts as a force that propels this practice.
Despite all these, it is a fact that gender discrimination of girls for economic reasons will fade with time. However, the norms about gender and the social status of both sexes need to be silenced and instead empowerment to the women should be encouraged to uplift their status. This will increase the value of the female gender in India and Asia as a whole. Countries that really need women empowerment include Nepal, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
Geographic patterns
According to the population dynamics of the recent years, Asia is highly masculanised. The proportions of the males as compared to the females are not anywhere close. This has not excluded India. This is astonishing in that the sex ratio in the whole world is diminishing and yet that one in India and Asia at large is still being prominent and visualized.
In Asia, specifically in India, the children population started increasing in the years of 1970s. However, at this time, this trend could not be noticed with immediate effect due to lack of appropriate data. Prior to this years there was disparity between the women and men of India due to mortality conditions that formed a legacy for not being fair to the women. However it also emerged to the people that there was also unfathomable factor that they could not rule out in playing the disparity and this was sex which was declining to the boys. This was how the sex issue came in.
This paper tries to give an overview of the regions in India as at today. I have tried to explain some of the incidences that could be possible reasons for the gender imbalance or discrimination in India and Asia at large but we will also show that this practice is characterized by social and regional variations in India and probably in entire south Asia. In this research, population projections of four places in Nogaon district were considered and there are implications of biased sex ratios at birth in the society in India. Finally we will embark on the future of this society as well as the role that the government and other stake holders play in this scenario.
Scenarios of future Sex Ratio at Birth
The issue of gender ratio is sensitive and delicate due to lack of experience to help predict the course that sex ratio at birth can be. Basing on the four regions of this district, there are possible deductions that we can come out with for the next few or so years in India and southern Asia at large. Basing on these, there are possibilities that there can be scenarios of extreme sex ratios. Either when one gender is low or high, the sex rate at some days will be very unbalance leading to extreme in one sex either too many girls or too many boys.
There is also a possibility of the sex ratios remaining within a possible range considering that the boy girl is considerably different. This is the possible situation should one sex be a little bit higher than the other then there are very chances that if that trend is maintained, the sex balance or rather ratio will be maintained.
Also, there is a possibility of age disparities in this society. On this I tried to consider the age marriageable. I found that many people do get married between ages forty and fifty. This implies that there will be a big gap in terms of people age groups existing in the society.
There are chances that there will be women deficit in the society in that many people value men than ladies in their families. This will is due to the fact that due to the few female who will be available will be hot cake because the society has to continue.
Lastly am seeing the restructuring of families where there will be prolonged marriages and most families will be having very many bachelors amidst them. After the available ladies who are also few having been married will be very inadequate to all men who are very many in the society.
The role of the government
When tried to explore situations or rather the steps that the Indian government is trying to do to stabilize the sexes in the country, I found out that the government is really trying to empower women to get education. In face the government has reduced the basic costs that may be seen as the impediments to having the female gender at the same time I can also consider the fact that because the government has refused to ban the sex selection issue we can say that the government of India and some other countries in the south Asia are adamant on this issue as if it is not taking place. This implies that the government has to blame for this practice otherwise with the outlawing it, then it will reduce and girls will be given chances at birth.
Should the government claim that they are short influence and resources to curb this ill, then why has it not taken the initiative to rally support against this ill from the international community? All in all the government is to blame for this sex selection issue in India and south Asia.
Apart from the government being silent, the international community is also quiet. This is convincing that the international community is assuming that whatever is taking places in India and Asia at large is their own business. But this should not be the case because people are losing lives there, ladies are losing their dignity and finally very good brains are lost in the process.
Policy implications
Basing on the framework of the concepts that has been covered in this research especially in the proceeding sections and the evidence that is empirically presented it is possible to make or rather draw some quite a number of the possible policy implications on the people of this region. It is possible to say that there is systematic gender discrimination in these areas. Despite the fact that the gender of girls is irreversible, their education levels can simply be changed. It is evidenced that women in this area representing the whole southern Asia, has poor indicators of education as compared to their male counterparts in the region. This means that there is discrimination in he education sector which could not be from the as a result of the government or any other force. Unfortunately enough, this poor indication is a world issue and may not only be relevant to the people of south Asia alone. If check at the enrollment rates in the schools at the primary levels is lower than that in secondary schools.
Apart from the school going children, we find that the rate of adult literacy in women is wanting. For instance comparing the number of women who ever went to school versus that of men, there is a big disparity. The same thin occurs when we compare the number of ladies who finished their primary and secondary schools. This is an indication that despite the fact that there is widespread of knowledge of the schools around here, there is as possibility that even the female sex has some weakness. They are the majority but they are the least educated. In addition to the wide knowledge of education around here, we find that the Indian government has subsidized the cost of education and thus any excuse should be eliminated at all costs.
According to the research that I carried out, I found out that there are a lot of influences into the child sex composition. There are some traditional believes that the right sex of the child is determined by the some physical circumstances or divine intervention or even some specific diet that will allow the fetus sex to develop automatically. There are also other ways that have been used by the community around and these include praying, timing and the kind of intercourse that people engage in. this is a clear indication that there is gender biasness in this region. They will consider having a certain sex of children and when it is achieved the parents are happier as compared to the other case when the other sex is given birth to. The y prefers the male to the female.
The use of certain methods in this region like the female infanticide, which is an old method that could be used to determine the gender of the children, is also an indication that the people around this place are not just risking but are determined to get the gender of the child they want. This method is postnatal and it is a very crude way of determining the sex of the child especially after birth.
Works cited:
Mehrotra, S.‘The Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Informal Sector and
Poverty in East Asia, 2009
National Family Health Survey, 1998–99 (NFHS-2) (2000) India: Key Findings,
Mumbai: International Institute of Population Sciences.
Ramalingaswami, V., Jonsson, U., and Rohde, J. (1996) ‘The Asian Enigma,’ in
Progress of Nations. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund.
Sen, A. (1995) ‘Mortality as an Indicator of Economic Success and Failure’, Innocenti
Lectures, Florence: UNICEF.
