In 1990, Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen alerted the world to the phenomenon of “missing women.” He said that more than 100 million women were missing from the world, which challenged the commonly held belief that women make up fifty percent of the world’s population. A horrific and growing trend contributing to the largest genocide in human history is taking place- female gendercide-. This trend is challenging our most basic human structures and values. These core structures have held societies and communities together throughout history – the balance and relationship of male and female. Procreation and new life-. While children around the world continue to face various forms of adversity in the 21st century, girl children in particular …show more content…
Thus, if there are an excess of daughters to be married, parents could go into life-long debt. “The dowry payment includes cash, gold, silver and expensive consumer items like TV and refrigerators, and in many cases a vehicle, preferably a car or motorbike. A portion of the land and property is also transferred from the girl’s family to the boy’s. ‘whenever the price of gold goes up, the value of the girl goes …show more content…
Among the Hindus, the reproduction and heredity beliefs are governed by the laws of Manu (Corcos, 1984). Following this law, Hindus believe that a man cannot attain redemption unless he has a son to light his funeral fire. Besides religious consideration, economic, social and emotional desires favour males, as parents expect sons to provide financial support, especially in their old age.
3) Contrary to the popular belief, Gita Aravamudan‟s research shows an adverse link between education and the gender skew. The more educated a woman is, the more likely she is to actively choose a boy, assuming that she decides to have one child. The only educated women likely to keep daughters are the very independent minded. Educated men, especially in the business class, also want to have sons to carry on their business.
4) Some women resort to female infanticide and feticide in order to protect their daughters from a life of objectification and subjugation in a society dominated by men, where there is a prevalent anti girl
In other words, a daughter is merely a father 's property, not as a human being who has feelings and desires. Unfortunately, the male entitlement mentality is a "plague" that knows no distinction of race, culture or social class, and easily turns into hatred and violent resentment, which can lead to the elimination (murder) of the woman who rebels against the will
Mao Zedong, one of the most influential leaders in Chinese history, once said that, “Of all the things in the world, people are the most precious.” One of the biggest problems that he faced was the growing population of China. At first, he discouraged birth control, but when the growth rate was growing astronomically, Mao introduced “Late, Long and Few.” When even this was not slowing down the population growth, China implemented a one-child policy. It allowed for the Chinese population to have one child, and was far more harmful than beneficial to China.
In March of 1925, Margaret Sanger delivered the outcome of overpopulation and a lack of birth control options(“Margaret Sanger’s “The Children’s Era” Analysis”). She discussed the so-called “Children’s Era”, which desired countless happy and healthy children all around the world, as a key part missing from our ideal future. Children brought up in poor circumstances are nearly doomed to have a bright future; these babies are jinxed before leaving the womb. Therefore, a child can only be healthy and successful if it is raised in a similar environment. In order to prevent the babies who are ill-prepared for or unexpected, birth control is necessary.
Throughout the course of history, women's role in society has changed immensely. The certain expectations set on them by the standards of society became widely accepted. They are controlled and are made to adapt to society's norms. Their actions are amplified by the men in society. The thought of superiority in favor of one gender leads to these societal norms that need to be broken.
Today violence against women is an uncontrollable phenomenon, which is a direct result of the rapid urbanization, industrialization and structural adjustment programs which are changing the socio-economic scenario of our country. "Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women" (United Nations Declaration1993) Domestic violence has attracted much attention of the sociologists in India since the decades of 1980s. Violence affects the lives of millions of women, worldwide, in all socio- economic and educational classes. It cuts across cultural and religious barriers, threatening the right of women to participate fully in society.
These unmarried women wants to “fulfill their noble tasks of motherhood”(p132). One of the motivation is they feel a sense of loneliness because many of them experience sentiments of insufficiency and uneasiness in a society surrounded by people who are in harmonious conjugal relationships(131). Moreover, even though numbers of “women are unlikely to marry, but “would need a child to take care of them in their old age” (132). A program implemented “encourage women to adopt an intensified focus on their bodies as the locus of their ‘femaleness’”(132).
Women’s place and role in the society is something that has been discussed and changed over time. Should their rights be the same as men’s? Should they be superior? Inferior? The world faces a dilemma on weather they should be or not equal as men.
And it is the sordidest piece of folly and ingratitude in the world to withhold from the sex the due luster which the advantages of education gives the natural beauty of their minds." (Academy for Women, Defoe p. 580) Third, Daniel Defoe points a result of women being neglected from
The tradition in India is that women at young ages are traded off as wives. What happens is that men and their families arrange marriages for these
Introduction It is true that many countries in the world are known for chauvinistic practices and Afghanistan is one among them. Khalid Hosseini, in his work, A Thousand Splendid Suns, portrays with gripping words to underscore the chauvinism against women therein. To quote, “ Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman”1 The worst of the cruelty practiced is very much justified using religious dogmas as a political thought. The violence is quite remarkable under the Taliban theocracy where politics and religion have a common victim that unfortunately, is a woman!
Western feminism has faced several issues over the years in its ideals, where many people challenged this notion on whether it truly assists all women from different regions of the world. Chandra Talpade Mohanty’s book Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity critiques Western feminism and promotes the ideas of feminism through a global context. Mohanty illustrates the importance of “feminism without borders,” signifying the necessity of feminism recognizing the realities of the issues faced by women of all backgrounds from all over the world.
In an article authored by Urvashi Agarwal on the role of females in Indian culture, she even points out the difference in emotions between the birth of a girl and boy: “sohras – the joyous songs of celebration sung at the birth of a child in the Hindi-speaking belt – are almost never sung for newborn daughters. Indeed, many sohras express the mother’s relief that this has not been the case and her worst fears have been proven to be unfounded” (Agarawal). This indifference towards females acts a specific example that shows undoubtedly that they are seen below men in the Indian hierarchy. In most conflicts involving an Indian family, it is safe to say that there is a presumption that the person higher up in social status, or in the case of Monsoon Wedding, the older and male Tej, would have the benefit of the doubt over a young girl like Ria. In addition, Lalit and the family were tremendously indebted to Tej, as he not only offers to pay for Ria’s entire American college education, but for the wedding as well.
D isappearance is a worldwide problem. Over the last few decades the World has been shocked by accounts of tens of thousands of people who are known to have disappeared due to one or another reason. Forced disappearances have an effect on the individual, his/her family and the community as a whole. The problems that family members of disappeared persons face are complex and can be overwhelming. Besides the uncertainty about the fate of their relatives, they usually have to cope with economic, social, legal and mental problems as well.
It is important to remember that arranged marriages in places such as India and countries in Africa often involve a dowry. In other words, the groom and their family will pay the bride’s parents for the hand of their daughter. This leads to fathers marrying off their underage daughters to
There has been progress, today, more girls and women are literate than ever before, and in a third of developing countries, there are more girls in school than boys. Women now make up over 40 percent of the global labour force. In some areas, however, progress toward gender equality has been limited—even in developed countries. Girls and women who are poor, live in remote areas, are disabled, or belong to minority groups continue to lag behind. Too many girls and women are still dying in childhood and in the reproductive ages.