Female infanticide

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Female infanticide is the deliberate killing of newborn female children. Female infanticide is prevalent in several nations such as China, India and Pakistan. It has been argued that the low status in which women are viewed in patriarchal societies creates a bias against females. [1] The modern practice of gender-selective abortion is also used to regulate gender ratios.

Contents

In 1978, anthropologist Laila Williamson, in a summary of data she had collated on how widespread infanticide was, found that infanticide had occurred on every continent and was carried out by groups ranging from hunter gatherers to highly developed societies, and that, rather than this practice being an exception, it has been commonplace. [2] The practice has been documented among the Indigenous peoples of Australia, Northern Alaska and South Asia,[ citation needed ] and Barbara Miller argues the practice to be "almost universal", even in the Western world. Miller contends that female infanticide is commonplace in regions where women are not employed in agriculture and regions in which dowries are the norm. [3] In 1871, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex , Charles Darwin wrote that the practice was commonplace among the aboriginal tribes of Australia. [4] Female infanticide is also closely linked to a lack of education and high poverty rates, which explains why it is widely prevalent in locations such as India, Pakistan, and West Africa. [5]

In 1990, Amartya Sen writing in the New York Review of Books estimated that there were 100 million fewer women in Asia than would be expected, and that this number of "missing" women "tell[s] us, quietly, a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excess mortality of women". [6]

Regional occurrence

China

Matteo Ricci Ricciportrait.jpg
Matteo Ricci

China has a history of female infanticide spanning 2,000 years. [7] With the arrival of Christian missionaries in the late sixteenth century, the missionaries discovered female infanticide was being practiced – newborns were seen thrown into rivers or onto rubbish piles. In the seventeenth century, Matteo Ricci documented that the practice occurred in several of China's provinces and that the primary reason for the practice was poverty. [8]

In 19th-century China, female infanticide was widespread. Readings from Qing texts show a prevalence of the term nì nǚ ("to drown girls"), and drowning was the common method used to kill female children. Other methods used were suffocation and starvation. [lower-alpha 1] [10] Leaving a child exposed to the elements was another method of killing an infant: the child would be placed in a basket which was then placed in a tree. Buddhist nunneries created "baby towers" for people to leave a child; it is however unclear as to whether the child was being left for adoption or if it had already died and was being left for burial. In 1845 in the province of Jiangxi, a missionary wrote that these children survived for up to two days while exposed to the elements, and that those passing by would pay no attention. [11]

Chinese anti infanticide tract circa 1800. Chinese anti infanticide tract from 1800.jpg
Chinese anti infanticide tract circa 1800.

The majority of China's provinces practiced female infanticide during the 19th century. In 1878, French Jesuit missionary Gabriel Palatre [12] collected documents from 13 provinces, and the Annales de la Sainte-Enfance (Annals of the Holy Childhood) also found evidence of infanticide in Shanxi and Sichuan. According to the information collected by Palatre, the practice was more widely spread in the southeastern provinces and in the Lower Yangzi River region. [13]

In China, the practice of female infanticide was not wholly condoned. Buddhism in particular was quite forceful in its condemnation of it. Buddhists wrote that the killing of young girls would bring bad karma; conversely, those who saved a young girl's life either through intervening or through presents of money or food would earn good karma, leading to a prosperous life, a long life and success for their sons. However the Buddhist belief in reincarnation meant that the death of an infant was not final, as the child would be reborn; this belief eased the guilt felt over female infanticide. [7]

The Confucian attitude towards female infanticide was conflicted. By placing value on age over youth, Confucian filial piety lessened the value of children. The Confucian emphasis on the family led to increasing dowries which in turn led to a girl being far more expensive to raise than a boy, causing families to feel they could not afford as many daughters. The Confucian custom of keeping the male within the family meant that the money spent on a daughter's upbringing along with the dowry would be lost when she married, and as such girls were called "money-losing merchandise". Conversely the Confucian belief of Ren led Confucian intellectuals to support the idea that female infanticide was wrong and that the practice would upset the balance between yin and yang. [14]

A white paper published by the Chinese government in 1980 stated that the practice of female infanticide was a "feudalistic evil". [lower-alpha 2] The state's official position on the practice is that it is a carryover from feudal times, and is not a result of the states one-child policy. Jing-Bao Nie argues however that it would be "inconceivable" to believe there is no link between the state's family planning policies and female infanticide. [15]

India

A map of India's child sex ratio, 2011. 2011 Census sex ratio map for the states and Union Territories of India Boys to Girls 0 to 1 age group.svg
A map of India's child sex ratio, 2011.

The dowry system in India is one given reason for female infanticide; over a time period spanning centuries it has become embedded within Indian culture. Although the state has taken steps [lower-alpha 3] to abolish the dowry system, the practice persists, and for poorer families in rural regions female infanticide and gender selective abortion is attributed to the fear of being unable to raise a suitable dowry and then being socially ostracized. [17]

In 1789, during British colonial rule in India the British discovered that female infanticide in Uttar Pradesh was openly acknowledged. A letter from a magistrate who was stationed in the North West of India during this period spoke of the fact that for several hundred years no daughter had ever been raised in the strongholds of the Rajahs of Mynpoorie. In 1845, however the ruler at that time did keep a daughter alive after a district collector named Unwin intervened. [18] A review of scholarship has shown that the majority of female infanticides in India during the colonial period occurred for the most part in the North West, and that although not all groups carried out this practice, it was indeed widespread. In 1870, after an investigation by the colonial authorities the practice was made illegal, [19] with the Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870.

According to women's rights activist Donna Fernandes, some practices are so deeply embedded within Indian culture it is "almost impossible to do away with them", and she has said that India is undergoing a type of "female genocide". [20] The United Nations has declared that India is the most deadly country for female children, and that in 2012, female children aged between 1 and 5 were 75 percent more likely to die as opposed to boys. The children's rights group CRY has estimated that of the 12 million females born yearly in India, 1 million will have died within their first year of life. [20] During British rule, the practice of female infanticide in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu among the Kallars and the Todas was reported. More recently in June 1986, it was reported by India Today in a cover story Born to Die that female infanticide was still in practice in Usilampatti in southern Tamil Nadu. The practice was mostly prevalent among the dominant caste of the region, Kallars. [21] [22]

Pakistan

Despite this practice being punishable according to Islamic law, there have been cases of female infanticide in Pakistan due to a few reasons, for example, children being born out of wedlock and then killed to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy. [23] Pakistan is still a male-dominated nation and remains a patriarchal society. [24] In addition, the boys in the family are given preferential treatment, receiving food and medical care before the girls do. [25] Having a child out of wedlock in Pakistan is culturally taboo. When women give birth to their babies, they often kill them to escape the shame or persecution. However, the ratio of female babies being killed in these cases is much higher than the boys because boys are much more valued. Infanticide is illegal in Pakistan. However, people do not report these cases, making it impossible for police to investigate. According to National Right to Live News, in 2017, only one case was actually reported, but 345 babies were found dead in Pakistan's capital between January 2017 and Spring of 2018. [26]

Socio-economics

Eliminating females poses an issue, as this reduces the number of females that will be able to bear children. It also poses an issue with feelings of female worth, as families wanting to eradicate female babies teach the young girls in their society that they are inferior to the opposite sex, making it more likely that they face oppression and have reduced access to jobs. The dowry system has an effect on the families and poverty line, as some families struggle to pay a dowry while earning below the minimum wage.[ citation needed ]

As of 2017, Pakistani women earn less than their male counterparts, earning under a hundred rupees a month, and are often unable to receive an education that would allow them to have better working hours and pay. [24] Some are also restricted to only working within the home, while men are allowed to do the majority of crop work and herding. [27]

In many countries, female infanticide is associated with socio-economic struggles. A study done in India found three socio-economic reasons associated with female infanticide. The study found that economic utility indicates that boys are valued more than girls due to the fact that boys can work and bring in money to the household. Due to the sociocultural utility factor of female infanticide, for many cultures having a boy in the family is mandatory in order to carry out the legacy of the family line. There is also a religious factor in female infanticide. Many believe that men are the only ones that can provide, and sons are viewed as mandatory in order to kindle the funeral pyre of their late parents and to assist in the soul's salvation. [28]

Solutions and programs

Non-Government Developmental Organizations (NGDOs) have gender awareness policies designed to prevent female discrimination all over the world. These NGDOs approach corporations in an attempt to educate those in the workforce on the pressing challenges women in society face. Other than increasing education regarding this issue, another noteworthy solution to female infanticide involves targeting the dowry system. Many societies oppose female children because of the heavy cost of dowry they would have to incur for a female. By reducing the financial burden on families, the eradication of the dowry system could therefore potentially reduce the apparent preference of male children as well as female infanticide rates. [29]

Another way of decreasing female infanticide rates is by providing families with incentives to give birth to females. India's Girl Child Protection Scheme [30] is one such scheme that encourages female births by providing families with financial support if they give birth to female children and additional support to those families whose children receive an education. This improves female literacy rates and increases female participation in the workforce, reducing female foeticide rates in underdeveloped countries. [30]

Implementing gender education within schools and the workplace will add to gender neutrality within society, increasing the value of women. Sympathizing with women's suffrage in countries limiting women's rights will add to the battle in which women fight for freedoms in their home state. Building upon gender equality in education and teaching women strategies to cope with their situations will help them grow confidence and want to spread their knowledge and passions with their female children. The issue with female infanticide is that women devalue their own gender. When mothers give away their female children, it only adds to the lesser image of women. Having women respect themselves and their own children for who they are will increase the population, and it will increase the value of women. It may take a long time to implement these changes in society, but societal revision is a slow process. Education, value in life, and passion for gender are all aspects of decreasing female infanticide. Having locations to rid of a female child, such as "The Girl Child Protection Scheme", appears as a step toward change. This program only adds to the availability and opportunity for female infanticide. Instrumentalizing gender education and value of life will greatly inspire change in societies that participate in such process of termination. [31]

Consequences and reactions

As a result of large high female infanticide rates in countries, the population is often skewed with a larger proportion of males. [32] According to the United Nations, this surplus of men in society coincides with increasing rates of child abuse, domestic violence, and bride trafficking/kidnapping, [33] presenting a grave threat to the security of women in the affected areas. This also increases the likelihood of women becoming victims of harmful sexually transmitted diseases, [33] which further adversely affects their lives as well as population rates. [34] Owing to these concerning issues, there is also a concerning boost in maternal mortality rates and an increase in mental health conditions among women in these locations. [35]

The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) wrote in their 2005 report, Women in an Insecure World, that at a time when the number of casualties in war had fallen, a "secret genocide" was being carried out against women. [36] According to DCAF the demographic shortfall of women who have died for gender related issues is in the same range as the 191 million estimated dead from all conflicts in the twentieth century. [37] In 2012, the documentary It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World was released, and in one interview, an Indian woman claimed she had killed eight of her daughters. [36]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "As soon as the little girls are born, they are plunged into the water in order to drown them or force is applied to their bodies in order to suffocate them or they are strangled with human hands. And something even more deplorable is that there are servants who place the girl in the chamber pot or in the basin used for the birth, which is still filled with water and blood and, shut away there, they die miserably. And what is even more monstrous is that if the mother is not cruel enough to take the life of her daughter, then her father-in-law, mother-in-law, or husband agitates her by their words to kill the girl." [9]
  2. ↑ "Infanticide through drowning and abandoning female babies is an evil custom left over from feudal times." [15]
  3. ↑ Although the Dowry Prohibition Act was passed in 1961 it had the consequence of young brides then being killed. [16]

Related Research Articles

Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure, but in some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide is broadly illegal, but in some places the practice is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexism</span> Prejudice or discrimination based on a persons sex or gender

Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Discrimination in this context is defined as discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. An example of this is workplace inequality. Sexism may arise from social or cultural customs and norms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex-selective abortion</span> Pregnancy termination based on predicted sex

Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of East Asia and South Asia, as well as in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and to a lesser extent North America. Based on the third National Family and Health Survey, results showed that if both partners, mother and father, or just the father, preferred male children, sex-selective abortion was more common. In cases where only the mother prefers sons, this is likely to result in sex-selective neglect in which the child is not likely to survive past infancy.

A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment by the groom, or his family, to the bride, or her family, dowry is the wealth transferred from the bride, or her family, to the groom, or his family. Similarly, dower is the property settled on the bride herself, by the groom at the time of marriage, and which remains under her ownership and control.

Sex selection is the attempt to control the sex of the offspring to achieve a desired sex. It can be accomplished in several ways, both pre- and post-implantation of an embryo, as well as at childbirth. It has been marketed under the title family balancing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Femicide</span> Murder of women or girls because of their gender

Femicide or feminicide is a term for the hate crime of systematically killing women, girls, or females in general because of their sex. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russell first implicitly defined the term as a hate killing of females by males but then went on to redefine it as "the killing of females by males because they are female" in later years. Femicide can be perpetrated by either gender but is more often committed by men. This is most likely due to unequal power between men and women as well as harmful gender roles, stereotypes, or social norms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girl</span> Young female human

A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is generally referred to as a woman. However, the term girl is also used for other meanings, including young woman, and is sometimes used as a synonym for daughter or girlfriend regardless of age. In certain contexts, the usage of the term girl for an adult woman may be considered derogatory. Girl may also be a term of endearment used by an adult, usually a woman, to designate adult female friends. Girl also appears in compounds like showgirl, cowgirl, and schoolgirl.

Bride burning is a form of domestic violence practiced in countries located on or around the Indian subcontinent. A form of dowry death, bride-burning occurs when a woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry. The wife is typically doused with kerosene, gasoline, or other flammable liquid, and set alight, leading to death by burning. Kerosene is often used as the cooking fuel for small petrol stoves, some of which are dangerous, so it allows the claim that the crime was an accident. It is most common in India and has been a major problem there since at least 1993.

Gendercide is the systematic killing of members of a specific gender. The term is related to the general concepts of assault and murder against victims due to their gender, with violence against men and women being problems dealt with by human rights efforts. Gendercide shares similarities with the term 'genocide' in inflicting mass murders; however, gendercide targets solely one gender, being men or women. Politico-military frameworks have historically inflicted militant-governed divisions between femicide and androcide; gender-selective policies increase violence on gendered populations due to their socioeconomic significance. Certain cultural and religious sentiments have also contributed to multiple instances of gendercide across the globe.

Gender inequality in India refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between men and women in India. Various international gender inequality indices rank India differently on each of these factors, as well as on a composite basis, and these indices are controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing women</span> Fewer women than expected in a population

The term "missing women" indicates a shortfall in the number of women relative to the expected number of women in a region or country. It is most often measured through male-to-female sex ratios, and is theorized to be caused by sex-selective abortions, female infanticide, and inadequate healthcare and nutrition for female children. It is argued that technologies that enable prenatal sex selection, which have been commercially available since the 1970s, are a large impetus for missing female children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globalization and women in China</span> Overview of the impact of globalization on women in China

The study of the impact of globalization on women in China examines the role and status of Chinese women relative to the political and cultural changes that have taken place in the 20th century as a consequence of globalization. Globalization refers to the interaction and integration of people, products, cultures and governments between various nations around the globe; this is fostered by trade, investment, and information technology. Globalization affected women's rights and the gender hierarchy in China, in aspects of domestic life such as marriage and primogeniture, as well as in the workplace. These changes altered the quality of life and the availability of opportunities to women at different junctures throughout the modern globalization process.

Rita Banerji (1967) is an author, photographer and gender activist from India. Her non-fiction book Sex and Power: Defining History, Shaping Societies was published in 2008. She is the founder of the 50 Million Missing online campaign to raise awareness of female gendercide in India.

Female foeticide in India is the abortion of a female foetus outside of legal methods. A research by Pew Research Center based on Union government data indicates foeticide of at least 9 million females in the years 2000–2019. The research found that 86.7% of these foeticides were by Hindus, followed by Sikhs with 4.9%, and Muslims with 6.6%. The research also indicated an overall decline in preference for sons in the time period.

It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World is a 2012 documentary film which explores the practice of female infanticide. It was directed by Evan Grae Davis and focused primarily on India and China. The United Nations has estimated that up to 200 million females are "missing" today, most of whom would have lived in India and China. The film took four years to shoot.

China has a history of female infanticide which spans 2,000 years. When Christian missionaries arrived in China in the late sixteenth century, they witnessed newborns being thrown into rivers or onto rubbish piles. In the seventeenth century Matteo Ricci documented that the practice occurred in several of China's provinces and said that the primary reason for the practice was poverty. The practice continued into the 19th century and declined precipitously during the Communist era, but has reemerged as an issue since the introduction of the one-child policy in the early 1980s. The 2020 census showed a male-to-female ratio of 105.07 to 100 for mainland China, a record low since the People's Republic of China began conducting censuses. Every year in China and India alone, there are close to two million instances of some form of female infanticide.

Female infanticide in India has a history spanning centuries. Poverty, the dowry system, births to unmarried women, deformed infants, famine, lack of support services, and maternal illnesses such as postpartum depression are among the causes that have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of female infanticide in India.

For years, the census data in China has recorded a significant imbalance sex ratio toward the male population, meaning there are fewer women than men. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the missing women or missing girls of China. In 2021, the male-to-female ratio of China is recorded at 104.61 to 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female infanticide in Pakistan</span> Deliberate killing of female newborns in Pakistan

Female infanticide in Pakistan had been a common practice. But it is no longer a common practice due to steps taken by local polices and Governments and Ordinances.

Son preference in China is a gender preference issue underpinned by the belief that boys have more value than girls. In China, the bias towards male over female offspring is demonstrated by gender sex ratio. Whether children are male or female has an economic impact on families, since the financial support that parents receive after their child marries is significantly differentiated by their gender.

References

  1. ↑ Jones 1999–2000.
  2. ↑ Milner, Larry S. "A Brief History of Infanticide". Infanticide.org. Archived from the original on 2006-08-15.
  3. ↑ Einarsdóttir 2004, p. 142.
  4. ↑ Darwin 1871, p. 365.
  5. ↑ "Preventing gender-biased sex selection" (PDF).
  6. ↑ Sen, Amartya (1990-12-20). "More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing" . The New York Review. ISSN   0028-7504 . Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  7. 1 2 Mungello 2009, p. 134.
  8. ↑ Mungello 2009, p. 137.
  9. ↑ Mungello 2008, p. 17.
  10. ↑ Mungello 2008, p. 9.
  11. ↑ Mungello 2008, p. 10.
  12. ↑ Harrison 2008, p. 77.
  13. ↑ Mungello 2008, p. 13.
  14. ↑ Mungello 2009, pp. 136–137.
  15. 1 2 Nie 2005, p. 50.
  16. ↑ Parrot & Cummings 2006, p. 160.
  17. ↑ Oberman 2005, pp. 5–6.
  18. ↑ Miller 1987, pp. 97–98.
  19. ↑ Miller 1987, p. 99.
  20. 1 2 Krishnan 2012.
  21. ↑ George 1997, pp. 124–132.
  22. ↑ Elisabeth Bumiller (2011). May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons. Ballantine Books. ISBN   978-0-449-90614-9. That assumption was shattered in June 1986, when India Today published an explosive cover story, "Born to Die," which estimated that six thousand female babies had been poisoned to death during the preceding decade in the district ...
  23. ↑ PHULL, IMRAN (25 June 2018). "Curse of Infanticide". The Nation. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  24. 1 2 Sathar, Zeba; Crook, Nigel; Callum, Christine; Kazi, Shahnaz (1988). "Women's Status and Fertility Change in Pakistan". Population and Development Review. 14 (3): 415–432. doi:10.2307/1972196. JSTOR   1972196.
  25. ↑ "Pakistan: Gender Discrimination - a Stark Reality". www.asafeworldforwomen.org. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  26. ↑ Andrusko, Dave (May 2018). "Wide-scale female infanticide in Karachi, Pakistan". National Right to Life News: 10 – via Academic Search Premier.
  27. ↑ Fafchamps, Marcel; Quisumbing, Agnes R. (1999). "Human Capital, Productivity, and Labor Allocation in Rural Pakistan". The Journal of Human Resources. 34 (2): 369–406. doi:10.2307/146350. JSTOR   146350.
  28. ↑ DTE Staff (September 19, 2018). "India witnesses one of the highest female infanticide incidents in the world: study". Down to Earth. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  29. ↑ Siwal. "PREVENTIVE MEASURES FOR ELIMINATION OF FEMALE FOETICIDE" (PDF).
  30. 1 2 "Chief Minister's Girl Child Protection Scheme". Archived from the original on 22 July 2017.
  31. ↑ "Chief Minister's Girl Child Protection Scheme". Social Welfare Department. Archived from the original on 2017-07-22. Retrieved 2019-12-01.
  32. ↑ Hesketh, Therese (2011). "The consequences of son preference and sex-selective abortion in China and other Asian countries". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 183 (12): 1374–1377. doi:10.1503/cmaj.101368. PMC   3168620 . PMID   21402684.
  33. 1 2 UN (2011). "Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2011" (PDF).
  34. ↑ ThePixelProject. "What is female infanticide?".
  35. ↑ UNHCHR. "Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children" (PDF).
  36. 1 2 Mashru 2012.
  37. ↑ Winkler 2005, p. 7.

Bibliography

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