India's Unwanted Girls
The Indian government has announced that 63 million females are missing from its population. About 2 Indian females go missing across all age groups because of abortions, diseases and malnutrition.
As in China, Indian society prefers men to women. Many families would rather have a son than a daughter. This can be seen in the country's birth statistics. For every 1,000 males that are born, there are only 940 females, which is much lower than average in many countries. According to population experts, there are about 21 million unwanted girls in India, females whose parents actually wanted a son.
Although testing for the gender of an unborn child is illegal, it still happens in many areas.
In Indian society, not only low-income families in rural areas prefer having a son instead of a daughter. In upper-class families, sons carry on the family tradition or take over the family business. While land and property pass on to a family's son, many parents have to pay a fee, called dowry, when their daughter marries.
Social problems also arise in Indian society. Girls are often treated worse than boys. Some families keep on having babies until they get a son. Although the preference for boys in Indian society cannot be ignored, the situation of girls and young women is improving. They are being better educated and have more opportunities in the workforce than decades ago.
Related Topics
- india
- Population Problems in India
- Abortion of Girls on the Rise in India
- Hinduism
- India's Caste System
Words
- abortion = a medical operation that kills an unborn baby
- according to = as said by ...
- although = while
- announce = to say officially, in public
- arise = come up; emerge
- average = normal, usual
- decade = ten years
- fee = amount of money you have to pay to someone
- gender = being male or female
- government = the people who rule a country
- ignore = to pay no attention to something
- illegal = against the law
- improve = to get better
- low-income = if you earn very little money
- malnutrition = when someone becomes ill or weak because they have not had enough to eat
- opportunity = here: the chance to get a job
- pass on = to give to someone else
- population = all the people who live in a country
- prefer = to like something more than something else
- property = land that you own
- rural = in the countryside
- society = people in general and how they live together
- take over = continue; take control from someone else
- workforce = all the people who work in a country