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Girl Children, Once Considered Worthless, Now Command a Pretty Penny for Marriage
While the birth of a child is reason to celebrate, in many traditional cultures, a daughter’s birth is often considered a disappointment. As technology allows parent to know earlier the gender of their children, some in India and other Asian countries, abort or kill infant daughters to avoid the shame and financial cost of raising them.
Throughout India, however, this practice is beginning to affect young men searching for brides. India is facing a shortage of young women. While some areas are more affected than others, the proportion of girls throughout India declined to 927 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2001. In a country of just more than 1 billion, that leaves some 73 million young men without hope for a bride.
World Vision has worked in communities where the practice of sex-selective abortion and infanticide is deeply entrenched. There, World Vision staff counsel parents against infanticide and, in some areas, provide financial benefits to parents who protect their daughters.
“We won’t have to give material gifts forever, but for now, it is absolutely critical for saving lives,” says Indirani Karthakannan, a World Vision social worker in Usilampatti, near Madras, India.
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