India’s Unwanted Girls
This week the BBC published "India's Unwanted Girls," an article spotlighting India's struggle to end the abortion of female fetuses. "In 1961, for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven, there were 976 girls. Today the figure has dropped to a dismal 914 girls," the article states. "Although the number of women overall is improving (due to factors such as life expectancy), India's ratio of young girls to boys is one of the worst in the world after China."
The article tells the story of Kulwant, a mother who was forced by her in-laws to abort three female children -- one five months old. "They were angry. They didn't want girls in the family. They wanted boys so they could get fat dowries," she says.
Outlawing dowries and early ultrasounds have not improved the situation. Many call for strong education on the role of women and their rights in Indian society, as well as education and economic independence for women as the only means to eradicate this growing, alarming problem.
Read the full article here.
