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Jenna Mars

Professor Melidonis

ANTH R105

May 3, 2015

Gender Inequality in India

In strongly patriarchal societies [like India], where the cultural and economic value of

sons is at a premium, son preference manifests itself in many ways, ranging from differential

allocation of household resources, medical care and neglect of girl children to female

infanticide, (Oomman and Ganatra 184). Though gender inequality has long existed in India, in

this modern world of information, we are now seeing how large of a problem it is and countries

like India are beginning to recognize the need to make changes to prevent the gendercide that

is occurring within their own borders. However, modern technology has not only made

governments more aware of the problem, but it has begun to become a large part of the problem.

Access to ultrasounds and other diagnostic technologies have allowed women to discover the sex

of a baby early in their pregnancies and the globalization of many parts of India has led families

to expect large dowries from families hoping to marry off their daughters. The economic

pressure put on families with daughters is a major force that drives sex discrimination, however,

to fully understand the phenomenon of gendercide and abuse towards women that occurs in

India, it is important to examine the cultures patriarchal practices and societys responses to

them.

India has long maintained marriage customs that involve arrangement by parents and in

many areas, a dowry tradition that involves the family of the bride giving cash, or other valuables
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to the family of the groom. India is patrilineal - inheritance is passed down through the males in

the family - and patrilocal, meaning that when a couple marries, the bride leaves her birth home

and goes to live with her in-laws where she is then required to serve and care for her husbands

family. In this situation, a woman faces multiple subordinate statuses as a wife, daughter-in-law,

sister-in-law, and mother, (Purkayastha et al. 517). This subordinate status leads to what is

known as dowry-related violence. While the myth among Indians is that only the lower classes

practice violence against women, researchers have found that cases of dowry-related violence

reaches far into the higher castes, but wealthier families are better at hiding the abuse. The

custom of dowry has increased, not decreased in modern India (Purkayastha et al. 518). Often,

demands for higher dowry due to globalization, and the brides familys inability to come up with

the desired amount, has led to abuse towards women, and in many cases, dowry death

(Purkayastha et al. 518). Dowry is a symbol of status and the daughters of families who cannot

provide adequate dowry face intense verbal and physical abuse, sometimes leading to death,

(qtd. in Purkayastha et al. 518). Even parents who provide the expected dowry still risk handing

their daughter over to abusers who can include all members of the husbands family. Bride-

burning is the most severe form of dowry-related violence and the circumstances surrounding the

burning death of a woman are rarely investigated by the authorities because of the way in which

it can be dismissed as a kitchen accident (Purkayastha et al. 518). Solutions to the problem of

dowry-related violence include awareness campaigns and support shelters for victims of abuse,

however, many scholars agree that while making changes to policy and incorporating more

support for victims is at least a step in the right direction, documenting and attempting to

understand the consequences of patriarchal cultural relations in society would allow for more

lasting change.
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While patrilocal systems in India and the use of the dowry custom can lead to marital

abuse of women, the patrilineal custom of passing inheritance only through sons has greatly

contributed to the devaluation of women and created a son-preference among families. The

preference for sons is a response to the fact, as mentioned above, that female children become

burdens on their families when the family must come up with a dowry in order for them to be

married, and because daughters leave the family and cannot stay and work to support parents and

grandparents as sons do. Daughters also cannot receive inheritance so that wealth can remain

within the family. Because of this, in-laws can be especially insistent on the birth of a grandson

and women who fail to produce sons can risk further abuse.

Recently, it has been discovered through sex-ratio census that females are disappearing in

great numbers in India. The son-preference has manifested into deliberate sex-selective abortions

and female infanticide. Since the 1980s the availability of ultrasound and other sex determining

technologies as increased and sex-selective abortion has begun to become widespread as well

(Oomman and Ganatra 184). Many wealthy states in India, where there is easy access to

antenatal sex-determination and abortion services have begun to express sex ratios that reflect

son-preference. However, even for less wealthy families, the cost of an ultrasound is considered

by many couples to be a good investment in order to save many times that sum in future dowry

payments if the fetus is female (Arnold, Kisher and Roy 762). In northwestern states like Punjab

and Haryana, there are many mobile ultrasound units which can visit rural areas and offer sex-

determination services to women with less access to rural technology (George 124).

Since the 1970s, when abortion was made legal under Indian law, it is believed that

women have been using sex-determination to decide whether or not to abort their children. In an

early study on sex-selection in India, 430 of the 450 women in an urban clinic in India who
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were told that the sex of the baby was female went on to have an abortion, whereas all 250 cases

where the fetus was male carried their pregnancies to term, even with the risk of genetic

disorders, (Oomman and Ganatra 185). Since the 1990s, an ever-increasing sex ratio has

pointed to sex-selective abortions in India overall, with higher instances in some areas where

dowry customs are heavily practiced. Provisional estimates for the 2001 census of India not

only show an unusually high sex ratio for children under seven years of age as a whole (107.8

males per 100 females), but also an increase in this sex ratio since 1991, when it was 105.8,

(Arnold, Kishor, and Roy 759). In their 2002 study, Arnold, Kishor and Roy linked abortions in

India to son preference by comparing the rate of abortions to the number of sons in the family

the prevalence of abortions in families with more sons was higher, which strongly supports the

hypothesis that families with more sons had been selecting for sex with ultrasound and abortion

(Arnold, Kishor and Roy 769 771). The Indian government acknowledges the practice of sex-

selective abortions in India and agrees with outside human rights groups that is a large problem,

however, stopping this form of gender inequality may not be as simple as passing restrictive

legislation.

In an attempt to lower the rate of sex-selective abortions, India passed the Prenatal

Diagnostic Techniques Act in 1994 which made antenatal sex-determination illegal (Oomman

and Ganatra 186). Many families receiving antenatal care require ultrasound and amniocentesis

and the Act only prohibits the technician from notifying the parent of the sex something that is

easily ignored. Womens rights activists seem divided on the issue of preventing sex-selective

abortions. On the one hand, supporters want to allow women to make choices about their

reproductive lives in the context of their families and communities, whereas others feel that

women are only responding to a patriarchal society that systematically discriminates against
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girls and women, and that these women are becoming part of the problem themselves (Oomman

and Ganatra 185). Many who oppose the legislation are concerned that putting restrictions on

abortions could serve to stymie progress that has been made in reproductive rights. Some also

argue that sex-selective abortion may represent a substitution of prenatal discrimination for

postnatal discrimination (Arnold, Kishor, and Roy 763). Allowing women to choose not to

continue unwanted female pregnancies, may prevent abuse of unwanted daughters and the

victimization of women who fail to produce sons for their families. In some cases, when women

do not have access to abortions, they have been known to kill infant girls shortly after birth.

Female infanticide is much rarer than sex-selective abortion or abuse and neglect of female

children, but it does contribute to excess female mortality rates and accounts for at least part of

the high male sex ratio of children under seven years old.

Unfortunately, there is no good data on the exact amount of female infanticide that occurs

throughout India because it is poorly documented. However, indirect demographic techniques

used on census data by George suggests that there was about 1.2 million missing girls in India

between 1981 and 1991 (125). According to George, most of the killings of infant girls are

committed by senior women in the family, usually the paternal grandmother, and in a few areas

by traditional birth attendants (126). Surprisingly, female infanticide is not limited to

uneducated, impoverished parts of India, but rather can be found in across all castes and in any

area. For instance, cases of female infanticide found in Tamil Nadu, first highlighted by India

Today in 1985, shocked the general public because women of Tamil Nadu are known to be

better educated and to have a greater degree of autonomy that their counterparts in northern

India, (George 125). But for women who are subject to the patriarchal society in which they

live, female infanticide can be a viable solution to the complications of having female children.
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The Indian government has taken measures to combat female infanticide by providing

assistance to families with one or two daughters and no sons. In 1997, the Prime Minister sought

to eliminate female infanticide with a series of financial incentives including welfare-type

payments and a lump sum for girls when they reach the age of 18 to go towards a dowry.

Unfortunately, several parents from different districts reported that applying for and receiving the

assistance was not easy and often required bribes, at times costing 50% of the total amount of

incentive money (George 127). Female infanticide continues to be a problem today despite

efforts to combat the symptoms of gender inequality. To effect long-term change, the strategy

most likely to be successful would be interventions which aim at broader social changes and

would include raising the consciousness of women about female subordination and patriarchal

society (George 128). However, George notes that attempting to change the attitude of the entire

population in a matter of five or ten years is totally unrealistic with the existing limited

strategies, (129). India simply lacks the resources to effect dramatic changes in the cultures

deep-rooted ideologies.

In India, systems of kinship, inheritance, and marriage practices heavily influence the

status of woman and have led to the preference for sons by both mothers and fathers. The effect

of this son-preference has dramatically lowered womens status in the country. The subordination

of women is heavily engrained in Indian culture and basic beliefs and ideologies of a culture are

hard to change. Legislative efforts to control gendercide and abuse towards females have shown

to be ineffective. Laws meant to deter female infanticide can unfairly lead to the criminalization

of women who are merely responding to a patriarchal society, laws that limit access to antenatal

technology could also limit much needed healthcare, and laws that limit who qualifies for an

abortion can have the undesired effect of limiting safe and affordable abortions in general. In
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many ways, India is attempting to put a bandage on a problem that is more like a cancer that

invades every aspect of womens lives in every social class and geographic area. They are

treating the symptoms and not the underlying condition. Unless India addresses conditions like

the persistent preference for sons, the expectation of large dowry payments, and the general low

status of women, little progress will be made towards gender equality.

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Works Cited

Arnold, Fred, Sunita Kishor, and T. K. Roy. "Sex-Selective Abortions in India." Population and

Development Review 28.4 (2002): 759-85. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

George, Sabu M. "Female Infanticide in Tamil Nadu, India: From Recognition Back to Denial?"

Reproductive Health Matters 5.10 (1997): 124-32. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Oomman, Nandini, and Bela Ganatra. "Sex Selection: The Systematic Elimination of Girls."

Reproductive Health Matters 10.19 (2002): 184-88. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28 Apr.2015.

Purkayastha, Bandana, Mangala Subramaniam, Manisha Desai, and Sunita Bose. "The Study of

Gender in India." Gender and Society 17.4 (2003): 503-24. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 28

Apr. 2015.