A study released last week claims that India has 63 million missing girls and 21 million missing women. Many of them are unwanted children of families who don’t want them. This is a result of sex-selective abortions and poor nutritional standards for girls. Moreover, the ratio of girls to boys has fallen in 17 states over the past decade. And families who have daughters are more likely to stop having children.
GBSS is the reason behind two-thirds of the total number of missing girls
Gender-based sex selection (GBSS) is responsible for two-thirds of all missing girls in India. In the State of the World Population report of 2020, the UNFPA reported that there were 142 million and 46 million missing girls in the world. Of these, 4.6 lakh girls went missing at birth. In India, this figure is higher.
GBSS is also a major contributor to the reduction in child sex ratios. The number of girls is below one million in nine states, including Bihar, Orissa, and Jharkhand. The number of missing girls in India is even higher than in other countries: India accounts for nearly half of the world’s missing girls. Gender-based sex selection has been linked to child marriage and dowry, which have been linked to a decrease in the child sex ratio.
Human trafficking is an important factor
Human trafficking is an ongoing crime that affects individuals, families and communities. Traffickers use violence, fraudulent employment agencies, and deception to entrap victims and force them to work for cash. Trafficking victims are often desperate and vulnerable. This type of crime is considered a form of child slavery. This crime has been increasing in frequency and intensity in recent years. It is a global problem that afflicts many countries.
In India, the human trafficking problem has a wide range of forms. The most common involves young girls and women from economically disadvantaged and marginalized communities. Traffickers recruit and sell these girls to pimps or brothel owners. They may also be family or community members. The young girls are unable to fight these crimes, so they are left to suffer the consequences of prostitution and human trafficking.
Sex ratios have declined in 17 states in the past decade
A study by NITI Aayog, a nonprofit organization in India, shows that the sex ratio at birth has decreased in 17 states in the past decade. The lowest ratio was recorded in Gujarat, where the sex ratio was 98.2. The newer data showed that the ratio fell to 898 in 2014 and 2016.
There are many reasons for this. One reason is that women live longer than men do. While women have historically preferred a male firstborn, there are cultural differences that lead to sex selection. For example, in South Korea, a man is more likely to be the firstborn than a woman. During third and fourth births, the trend toward sex selection increases. This is especially true when parents want a son. In 1992, the sex ratio for fourth births in South Korea was 229, whereas the overall sex ratio was 114. In the mid-1990s, the South Korean government began a public awareness campaign in order to address this problem.
Affluent Indians pay to find out the sex of their baby and abort if they choose
In the United States, a growing number of wealthy Indian couples are paying to learn the sex of their baby during pregnancy. While the Indian government outlaws such technologies, they are legal in other countries. These women use medical techniques to determine the sex of their unborn children and abort if they choose. Many women report that they have had significant pressure from female relatives and in-laws to have a boy.
In a study published in 2013, researchers interviewed 65 immigrant women in three states. About 40 percent of those women had terminated previous pregnancies when they were pregnant with a girl. Of those, 89 percent decided to end the pregnancy once they learned they were carrying a girl. The results were similar for women of all education levels. Additionally, half of the women interviewed had jobs outside the home. Most women interviewed reported suffering from various types of abuse, depending on the extent of the abuse they had experienced.
Sikhs use wedding celebrations to honor future girl-children
Marriages between Sikhs are often filled with religious observance. The ceremony takes place at the home of the bride and groom and may include a gurudwara visit. The bride and groom exchange rings, and the groom’s family offers the bride a kara, or Sikh bangle, as a symbol of their union with God. The ceremony also includes a brief prayer by a granthi. The bride’s family then feeds the groom with milk. Both families then congratulate the newlyweds and distribute gifts.
Weddings in the Sikh religion are full of color and energy. The Sikh traditions emphasize a union between men and women, as well as family. The celebrations are often filled with music and elaborate dance. The bride wears a red chunni, a traditional saree, which is made of silk. The bride wears a traditional bangle – the choorae – for the first month of marriage and possibly for a year. The bangles are re-dyed when they fade and are often used as a symbol of fertility and prosperity.
The Sikh community has a tradition of choosing sons over daughters. This tradition is part of the Sikh faith, which is also associated with gender equality. Its “meta” son preference is based on cultural heritage and customs, rather than on genetic characteristics. This practice also makes sons more desirable in India than girls. However, the Sikh community is not the only religion with a “meta” son preference.
