Happy Women's Day

The Girl Child and her Day in the Sun.

“The child is the father of the man”- so wrote William Wordsworth in his famous poem “The Rainbow”.. Little did this dreamer of the 18^th century dream, that centuries later there would arise a situation that would require what his wildest imagination did not foresee.. a separate set of rules and rights for the child born of different genders..  of life and death.

Generations came, generations perished. And what emerged from the spawn of humanity and its so-called “progress”, was the most belittling, disgraceful and degrading state of affairs- the Gender Bias.

Various theories attempted to explain and justify what led to people wanting a male child, and fearing the birth of a female one. Whether it was poverty, illiteracy, the great “Joint Family System”, the short-sighted land and property laws of the land or the various social evils, namely sati, dowry, pathetic education and other avenues available for the young girls in the family, the net result was the same. A steady and rapid downfall of the status of women in general in society. What probably further sealed their fate were the doctrines of religion as quoted by the caretakers of all religions.. the pandits, maulvis and priests, who had a vested interest in “keeping women in their place”.

24^th January 1966. The daughter of our first Prime Minister, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, broke the mould of her sisters and was elected the first woman Prime Minister of India. One thought that what the great social activists had failed to do in all the years, would be done now, with a member of the XX Chromosome at the helm of the nation. But one was so very wrong!

Decades came and kept coming. And the plight of women fell deeper and deeper into the mire. The tip of the iceberg was there for all to see. The head covered, neck bent, shoulders stooped lady, with vermilion an her forehead, hair and palms, who bore the brunt of every misfortune that befell the family, and plodded on bravely, swallowing the blame and suppressing all her anguish and pain under the mantle of the much glamorized “Indian Woman” aka  “Bharatiya Naari”. Then came what was the inevitable fallout of the quagmire.. the total hatred in men and women, elders and the youth alike, of the female child. At first, it was a shameful secret, kept under covers of the four walls of the home. Slowly, it reached a shameful stage, where the shame vanished. Doctors and Scan Centres began to openly (for a fixed fee) conduct ultrasonographic tests to find out the sex of the unborn child and inform the parents-to-be. Then, with scant respect for the laws of the country, or the tenets of humanity or even the will of the mother-to-be, decisions were taken and the baby girls aborted. This went on, and now, at the turn of the decade, we have touched the low of the skewed sex ratio of 925 girls to 1000 men. In some States of India who are predominantly agricultural, it is even lower.

Finally the warning bells ringing through the years came to the ears of the United Progressive Alliance (The UPA Government), and steps began to be taken in the right direction. The Minister for Women and Child Development, Ms. Renuka Chaudhary announced a new venture for the citizens of the country to be able to hear the very same bells clanging, in the “Bel Bajaao” campaign. This was begun on 24^th January 2009 , marking the day in 1966 that Indira Gandhi was sworn in as Prime Minister.  A series of programmes were launched, including the many advertisements aired on television,starring Boman Irani of “Bell Bajaao” when you see a crime against woman. The erstwhile slogan of the ministry “Save the Girl Child” was changed to “My daughter-Nation's pride”. An awareness campaign was flagged off, which was to last until 8^th March, the International Women's Day. The media assisted all they could with new serials, documentaries and road shows depicting the ills being inflicted on the “weaker sex”- right from stripping them of their right to be born to their right to live.

The intentions and plans of the UPA Government were no doubt noble and well-meaning. But the rot has seeped too far down into our moral and social fibre today. Even today, the girl child is aborted and thrown wrapped in black polythene bags in gutters, little girls are abandoned or murdered after birth, left at the hospitals they were delivered in, on railway platforms and orphanages. Those that are held on to by the families, are subjected to harsh and often cruel treatment by the members of their own family, depriving them of their dignity and different rights than given to the boys in the family. That a nation that is in majority hindu, and worships various Goddesses, keeps fasts and celebrates womanhood, should reach this stage, says a lot for the the magnitude of the problem our country faces today.

Other countries too have similar gender-equality issues no doubt, and have taken their own steps to combat them. Bangladesh celebrates the Day of the Girl Child on 15^th October. UNICEF celebrates the day on 24^th September. The church celebrates the birth of the girl child, Mary, Mother of Jesus, on 8^th September. But the real tribute to the girl child is to celebrate every day of her life as the “Day of the Girl Child”, celebrate her identity as an equal member of her family, her community and her country. The world's largest democracy can surely awaken today, and extend her largesse to encompass the life-giving section of humanity – the girl child.  Today, on the 24^th of January 2010, it is for each of us to find the awareness in our hearts, and share it with those who are still in the dark. It is for us to make that extra effort, take that extra step forward from our busy lives, and reach out to the yet un-enlightened and un-informed, biased members of our neighborhoods, families, cities and county, and make that change. That will be the true tribute to the National Day of the Girl Child.

Dr. Seema Tyagi.

Meerut.