PROJECT REPORT

INCREASING RELEVANCE OF GIRL CHILD IN

INDIAN FAMILIES – GENERAL ELECTIVE,
PHOTOGRAPHY

Acknowledgement

The success and final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and assistance from
many people and I am extremely privileged to have got this all along the completion of my
project. All that I have done is only due to such supervision and assistance and I would not
forget to thank them.

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my Journalism (photography)

Professor Mr. Vinay Rai Sir, who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project on the topic ‘INCREASING RELEVANCE OF GIRL CHILD IN INDIAN
FAMILIES’ which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so
many new things I am really thankful to them, for guiding and helping me out with
certain doubts that I countered during the making of this assignment.

I also acknowledge my family and friends for making it possible for me to

complete this assignment and steering me out of certain problems. They
helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Declaration

2. Certificate

3. Acknowledgement

4. Table of contents

5. Why I selected this topic

6. Introduction

7. Questionnaire

8. Data analysis

9. Conclusion

10. Bibliography
 Why I selected this topic?

Discrimination against girls in India has been going on since ages now. Since the very
independence girls couldn’t get the freedom they deserve be it a mother, daughter, sister or a
wife. There are such auspiciousness that have been used in Indian society for centuries, and
all these things show that Indian society has been man-made for centuries. There are so-
called traditions which gave the realization that without the boy there will be no rage, the
caste runs by boys, there are boys who fire the father's dead body i.e. the family without the
boy is very difficult. Due to the tradition of running the race, the balance of society has been
deteriorating, and the population is also increasing, which affects the children's future, their
mental development and raising cannot be done properly and create an imbalanced situation.
Those who go on giving birth to two or three daughters for a son and then discriminate
between them, this will have their family life distorted and also have a bad effect on the
society as well Due to such blind superstitions and traditions, the difference in the average of
women and men is increasing in the Indian society today. Though the time has changed for
better, but even today there are several sections of the Indian society where the girl child is
treated as a burden. While several privileges are given to the boys; girls are often restricted to
the confines of house and given very little or no opportunities to learn and grow in life. It is a
matter of great shame that cases of female infanticide are still reported. As per the
figures of 2011 census, there are just 918 girls in India for 1000 boys.

There is an urgent need to change this archaic mindset of the patriarchal Indian society which
views girls as liabilities. When given the right chances to nurture their talent and skills, they
have it in them to excel in different areas of life. It is therefore imperative that both
government and non-government organizations work in cohesion to spread the message of
saving and educating the girl child. You can donate online to NGOs to lend your support to
this movement. In such a scenario, the role of the government and NGOs becomes all the
more important in order to ensure that girls are allowed to be born and flourish in
life. Support charities like Save the Children to contribute your bit in spreading awareness
about the importance of girl child. . Not only celebrities but even common people have
changed their thinking, people are adopting girl child.

In my view, even for the urban areas, the prospects of the girl child are not too bright as, even
while women are acquiring status and positions in the office - firstly, they do not get the
respect the male counterparts get in the offices. Besides no matter what status a woman may
achieve outside home, inside the home she, by and large remains a chattel. When this is the
ground reality of the girl at home and outside home it appears that, even education and
financial independence have not helped women really enhancing their status vis-vis the status
of men.

I want to tell people that girls are in no way less than boys. I chose this topic to tell people
that the change has come. With such strengths that women possess, why should they
continue to be sidelined? The girls of today are proving themselves equal to boys in every
respect. They are distinguishing themselves as achievers in every field, from academics to
sport to profession. They are successfully playing multiple roles in every sphere of life. Their
will to develop and help others develop alongside is what can take our society forward. They
are meant to be 50% of the population, their voices matter in creating a more equitable
community. Moreover, they make a ‘house’ feel like ‘home’. So, go ahead and welcome the
girl child with a warm embrace!

Concerns are being expressed on the lower ratio of girls in the whole country, but there are
some people who are doing something different from Whistle Blower These are those people
who have decided by thinking that they will use all their resources only in the care of their
single daughter, and by educating their girls, they will make their girls so successful that
people who kill their daughters in their womb itself will be ashamed to death.

INTRODUCTION

India is rising. Our country is zooming ahead in all fields that count at break neck speed. The
boom in economy, innovative technologies and improved infrastructure are testament to that.
Women have provided considerable contribution to this progress, with them taking up every
possible job. From preparing the morning breakfast to sending the Orbiter to Mars, they have
made their presence felt in every sphere of life. Yet in every strata of the Indian society, there
still remains a cloud of apprehension and insecurity when a girl child is born. Discrimination
against a girl begins at her conception and shapes up to be the monster she has to fight every
moment of her waking existence. Her second rate citizenship is reflected in the denial of
fundamental needs and rights and in such harmful attitudes and practices as a preference for
sons, female genital mutilation, incest, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, discrimination,
early marriage, less food and less access to education. Deep-rooted patriarchal perceptions
project women as liabilities. There lurks in the Indian conscience, a foul monster of
hypocrisy, when the Kali-Durga-Lakshmi worshippers take no time in putting women down
or dismissing them as a mere afterthought.

Traditions and rituals outline the existence of the Indian girl child. Amidst uproars of gender
equality and enforcement of laws protecting their wellbeing, female infants are still found
dumped in trash, by the dozens. Unborn foetuses continue to be sniffed in the womb and
terminated without second consideration if their existence is even hinted at. As more and
more female foetuses are still being selectively aborted after illegal pre-natal sex
determination, the number of female infants per 1000 male infant is rapidly declining.
Skewed sex ratio is a silent emergency. But the crisis is real, and its persistence has profound
and frightening implications for society and the future of mankind. Continuing preference for
boys in society, for the girl child the apathy continues, the child sex ratio in India has dropped
to 914 females against 1,000 males, one of the lowest since Independence according to
Census 2011. According to global statistics, the normal child sex ratio should be above
950:1000. While southern states like Kerala can boast of a ratio of 1084 females per 1000
males, the most alarming scenario prevails in the northern states like Haryana, Rajasthan and
even Delhi, with number of girl child as low as 830 per 1000 male children.

It is true that in today's civilized society you will find many people who say that we should
have at least one son so that our family name can go forward or else who will be our heir?
But have you ever thought that the people whose sons do not belong to their descendants? If
takes Jawaharlal Nehru, then he is not remembered today? Without a son, their caste is
not running? Take Gandhi ji, how many people remember their sons' names? There are
so many families who have taken the risk for just one successor.

If someone brought up the topic of gender preference, do you react by saying, ‘Gender
preference? Really? Isn’t it a thing of the past?’ Your reaction is probably due to the fact that
you see around you more girls among top-ranking students; more women having jobs, access
to education, money and resources; more women holding positions of authority and making
strides in all fields. But, what about all those girls and women who didn’t even get a chance
to live?

Although the twenty-first century India is highly educated and developing at a fast pace, there
is still a higher preference for a male child. Perceived as the alpha, the protector and provider,
sons are considered as assets whether for political, economic or ritual reasons while daughters
are considered burdensome liabilities.

As of 2015, according to statisticstimes.com, among all countries, India ranked 192nd with a
dismal sex ratio of 106.98, which means there were only 93.47 females for every 100 males.
Again, according to an article in the Lancet (2011), research data implies that ‘in India about
400,000 sex-selective abortions have taken place annually in recent years’!
Here are a few reasons for gender preference in India - socio-cultural factors like dowry,
wedding expenses, custom of gift-giving, inability of girls to take care of parents after
marriage, domestic violence, ill treatment by husbands and in-laws, ill treatment on account
of giving birth to a girl, and so on. This gender preference goes hand-in-hand with gender
discrimination.

'Lovely daughter of the house'

At least in India, the girl child has been a topic of discussions and debates for the past several
decades but, even today, the position appears to remain unchanged. The girl was always an
unwanted child, and was found killed at birth. With the advancement of Science and
Technology this killing has only gone still further - for now the girl child is being killed even
before birth. The present scenario in which the girl child is mercilessly killed even before
birth, does not speak too well about the fate of this species. The scenario is so varied that, it is
really difficult to understand what we are really doing or trying to do in this regard. On the
one hand we see girls entering in the fields of all kinds of professions holding senior positions
in offices, becoming engineers, doctors, managers etc. We are obviously impressed and are
likely to believe that, the position of the girl is now after all not too bad.

However, the complexity of the problem becomes malicious when we see that, together with
girls entering professions there is a simultaneous and continuous rise in the graph of crimes
against women. Why and how do these two sides of the same problem co-relate, is a mind-
boggling situation. This situation is true of the urban area where education and freedom is
given to girls - to a great extent, but even this growth of this class does not really bear any
testimony to the equality of girls with boys. The rural areas consisting of the major chunk of
the Indian population see no - yes absolutely no change in the general attitude towards girls.
In the villages, girls are not sent to schools and, if at all they are, they drop out after an year
or two of schooling.

Here, the myth still remains that, education is useless for girls - they have to concentrate on
house work, child bearing and child bringing up all through life - and all this; it is believed
needs no education. The village people are hard to convince that education of women is as
important if not more important than the education of men.In the village, the girl child has no
say in anything in the home, not even things of her own concern - she is, even to-day in the
21st Century treated as an object to be used instead of an individual human being with all the
ingredients of human beings - like her counterparts - the boy. She, even today remains to
have the status of an object to be used or dispensed with at the whims and fancies of her male
family members. With this psyche of the average Indian adult, I personally see no light at the
end of the dark tunnel.

My personal view is that the rise of women and the crime against women going hand in hand
is a paradox but not difficult to understand. It is very clear that, the men who have held the
fort single handedly for centuries, would obviously not like to give up their importance, or
even share it with women. It is they who resent this rise of the heads of women and so, before
women rise to unchallengeable heights the ogre of man wants to crush them. This he does by
using his God gifted physical strength and it is this reason that, crimes against women are
now on the rise. The woman who was earlier battered because she was considered a lesser
being is now being battered, because she is potential challenge to man's unquestioned
supremacy through past several centuries.

Thus, the position remains unchanged even after education and financial independence. To
my mind, there is no single package that could improve matters for the girl child/woman
except that men change their attitude towards women. Unless men start regarding women as
their equal partners, in the growth of humanity this differentiation between men and women
shall continue unabated.

No single item of achievement like education, profession, legal rights or even the mixture of
all these will work out a solution - the only feasible solution is the change of mind, the
change of attitude of the men towards women. Till this is done, no amount of teaching,
preaching or bargaining will help the girl child.At this juncture when we talk of attitude, I
must add that even women have to change their attitude towards the girl child/ women. At
least partly women are themselves responsible for their position.As women it is they who
pamper their sons and husbands till they begin to believe that they are really superior beings.
Let us all, men and women change our attitudes in this regard and, I am sure it will reap
pleasant results.

 Hindu college professor Ms. Rachna,"I have a daughter who is 18 years old now, I
have never seen her with the difference between son and daughter." In today's time,
especially in the metros, how can someone differentiate between boys and girls, I am
shocked. People say that they live modern life but their thinking is still akin to people.
People need to change their mentality.

 Yogendra Tiku, who works in advertising and marketing, says that daughters are
getting more care. I also have a daughter of 28-year. I am very proud of the decision
of my single Daughter, and anyway those who give sons more importance are weak,
such people are innate in their own right, they only keep the wishes of sons for their
selfishness. So that their future is secure, they have no problem in old age.

 Arvind Gaur, the founder of theatre related to this fact, who has two twin girls,
says that raising a child well is a huge responsibility in itself. Many preparations are
made for the child before the birth of the child, many dreams are woven. Many
decisions related to the child are made.The birth of a child is to be the second birth of
a mother. For which the mother has to undergo many types of experiences. In such
 cases, people who are killing embryos should understand that children are a part of
you, then why the difference?

 Music teacher and director N. Sangeeta Gaur says that those who kill foetus do not
understand the importance of daughter, they have not found the mental development
of those people completely. By doing so, they are going against nature and are
spoiling the balance of society.

 Finance manager Arun Shrivastav said that now the time is changing. Girls also
serve their parents as much as their son. Girls are more sensible and responsive.
Society should come forward for their uplift and not understand them in double
standards.
 LIC. Agent Shivani Shrivastav, who has a 13 year old daughter, says that in today's
time the girls have gone beyond the boys, therefore, who give preference to the son
and take the sin of killing daughters, they are stupid. Even after being educated, they
come in the illiterate category.

 Advocate Arvind Jain says that the image of a man-oriented society in India is now
slowly breaking down. Today, you can see girls working in every area, even if it is
not only working in white, there is a growing number of girls everywhere. Girls,
whether they are in the field of education or working in the field, are registering their
availability everywhere. You can find out how much son caring so that you can see
the old age home and widowhood. Changes are necessary over time, and it has been
happening even though its speed is slow but in the coming times, people take a child
well and there is enough. In this context, Mrs. Jain says that there are many such
families in today's time where the boys have made their parents homeless after the
rule, girls have supported them and the girls are doing their best well.

During the conversation everybody said that if we are advised to do any other child or a son,
then we have to say that we do not make any difference in children. We are proud of our
children. We are happy that we soon understood what the reality of society really is.

Looking at all these facts, we can say that today's phase is a new era. The earlier conservative
traditions that people made for their benefit are now breaking down. In fact, the difference
between son and daughter in today's time is utterly silly. Not all sons are alike, there are good
people in society and bad people are also.
Changes are seen in the interests of the people in the present and their thinking is also
changing. They have to see that time is changing now. Girls are reaching the space in every
sphere with their hard work, passion and family support. We should not forget the names like
Kalpana Chawla, Pratibha Patil, Sanya Mirza, Indira Gandhi, Kiran Bedi, Shabana
Azmi, Saroj Khan, Farah Khan, they are also a part of Indian society.

Girls are gentle and passionate in nature. She holds the feeling of doing all kinds of work, in
which most of the people also fall behind. If you teach a boy, then you are educating a person
alone, but if you teach a girl, then a whole family is educated. If girls are educated only then
they can create a well-educated society.

Daughter’s view
They want to reach a higher position to prove their parents right. They do not have any
rivalry against the boys, but still they do not want to keep themselves less than boys in any
case. They want society to know that the time has changed, girls can do anything and in a
very comfortable manner. Just as the boys, they want to take responsibility for their family by
growing up.

Neha Chaudhary, 33, who has been appointed as an Assistant Commissioner in this subject,
says that I am very attached to my parents, my parents cooperate with me in every way.
Similarly, more people should cooperate with their children, who do not do this; they are
making a problem for themselves. Neha's mother, Nirmal Chaudhary, says that whenever
anyone tells me that you are very fortunate, if you have a daughter like yours, then you do not
need a son. Your daughter is equal to 10 sons. I feel very proud of my daughter. My daughter
is really very caring, passionate and trustworthy. Advocate T. S. Chadhari (Father of
Neha) says that girls are more supportive than boys. And this is a fact that you can trust a girl
more.

Sanskriti Jain, an 18-year-old culture practicing in this context, says that the son will be
there only when the daughter-in-law lives. So instead of hating daughters, they have to
understand, only then reform in society is possible. I am a single daughter in my house too
and I am proud of my mom-dad that they have made such a good decision for my good
environment. Now I will be a good lawyer and I will make my dreams come true. It is not
that I am a studious but i will prove it to my parents that they were right; they do not need a
son. My parents make my wishes come true. When I was younger then my Parents used to
play with me and gave me their full time. This is the reason why I have not had any shortage
of siblings till date.
28-year-old Pooja Tiku says, "I never felt a lack of siblings. My parents gave me
everything, every moment, for which I am happy and would like to thank my parents for the
decision they took. Society shoul understand the importance of girls.

Celebrities Who Adopted Girl Child And Gave

Them Better Lives
Back in the 90s, the process of adopting a child in any part of the country came with a
lot of unwanted questions and controversies. Despite that, many Indian celebrities
decided to fight the hard fight and successfully adopted girl children, and welcomed
them into their families.
Women like Sushmita Sen and Raveena Tandon opened their hearts and homes to
children at the young age of 20-something, knowing very well the responsibilities that
came with being a single mom. We still love and respect them, and other celebrities,
for standing by their decision and encouraging other hopeful parents to consider
adoption.
1. Sushmita Sen
After a long and complicated legal battle, Sushmita brought Renee home when she
was just 25. She adopted her second daughter, Alisah, in 2010.

2. Raveena Tandon
Raveena was 21 when she adopted two girls, Chhaya (8) and Pooja (11), daughters of
a distant cousin who was going through some financial trouble.

3. Mithun Chakraborty
Mithun adopted Dishani when she was a baby, and raised her along with his sons,
Mahaakshay (Mimoh), Ushmey, and Namashi.

4. Salim Khan
Salim Khan adopted Arpita, and raised her with his four children - Salman, Arbaaz,
Sohail, and Alvira.

5. Subhash Ghai
Meghana Ghai is the biological daughter of Subhash Ghai’s younger brother (who is a
producer with Mukta Arts), but was adopted and raised by Subhash and his wife
Rehana.

6. Dibakar Banerjee
Dibakar Banerjee adopted a baby girl from a Mumbai-based orphanage, and is raising
her with his wife, Richa.
 7. Sameer Soni and Neelam Kothari
In September 2013, Neelam and Samir adopted baby Ahana after two years of their
marriage.

8. Kunal and Ravina Kohli

Kunal adopted a 7-month-old baby girl and named her Radha. He is raising her with
wife, Ravina.

9. Shobhana
Actor and Bharatanatyam dancer Shobhana adopted a baby girl in 2010, and
performed the annaprasana for her at the famous Guruvayur temple in Kerala.

10.Sunny Leone
Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber are the latest to join the club of Bollywood
celebrity couples who preferred adoption than having biological kids. The couple
made headlines recently when they adopted a 21-month-old baby girl from Latur,
Maharashtra and named her Nisha Kaur Weber.

Now that the government is finally thinking about adoptive parents, we hope that other
hopeful parents are encouraged by these celebrities.

Questionnaire
Please complete this survey; it is for an assignment purpose only. Thank you for your time
and cooperation.

1. It is good to have only one girl child in India?

O Yes
O No
2. Out of you two, who was the first to agree upon this decision?
O Mother
O Father
3. Did your family or relatives support you?
O yes
O no
O Initially they disagreed, but then they agreed

4. Are you happy with your decision?

 O Definitely yes
O No

5. Don’t you feel like that after the marriage of you only daughter, you guys will be alone?

6. Give some advice for the parents having single daughter –

7. Don’t you feel like your daughter needs a sibling (brother or a sister)?
O sometimes
O never

8. What are your future plans for your daughter?

9. If given a chance, would you have another baby?

10. Do you worry about saving money/gold for her marriage?

Questionnaire (filled)
Please complete this survey; it is for an assignment purpose only. Thank you for your time and cooperation.

1. It is good to have only one girl child in India?

 Yes
O No

2. Out of you two, who was the first to agree upon this decision?

O Mother
O Father
 Both

3. Did your family or relatives support you?

O yes
 O no
 Initially they disagreed, but then they agreed

4. Are you happy with your decision?

 Definitely yes
O No

5. Don’t you feel like that after the marriage of you only daughter, you guys will be Alone?

Yes I feel that, but I know where ever she will be, she will be happy and I don’t want
anything else. I want her to be happy no matter what.

6. Give some advice for the parents having single daughter –

Just love her unconditionally and she will prove it to you that she is worth the love

7. Don’t you feel like your daughter needs a sibling (brother or a sister)?
 sometimes
O never

8. What are your future plans for your daughter?

I want her to be successful. I will let her pursue whatever career she wants.

9. If given a chance, would you have another baby?

No.

10. Do you worry about saving money/gold for her marriage?

Yes sometimes but I know everything we have is hers.

DATA ANALYSIS

QUESTION1. It is good to have only one girl child in India?

 70%

60%

50%

40%
DAD
30% MOM

20%

10%

0%
YES NO

O 61% people agreed that it is good to have only one girl child out of
which 46% are females and rest are males
O 39% people said that one should have more than one kid , a kid
needs a sibling they said
O People said that having single child is good, there are fewer
responsibilities comparatively.

QUESTION2. Out of you two, who was the first to agree upon this decision?
 60%

50%

40%

Column1
30% Column2
Column3

20%

10%

0%
mother father both

O 55% parents said that they didn’t have any problem with a girl child , they were

happy with their decision from the start.

O 30% of mothers said they were the first to agree upon this decision. They also said

it was difficult to convince their husbands, as the husbands were worries about

savings and dowry or they need a son to continue their family name.

O 15% of fathers said it was quite difficult to convince their wives as the wives were

worried about what the society would think.

QUESTION3. Did your family or relatives support you?

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4 Column3
Column2
0.3 Column1

0.2

0.1

0
Initially they didn't no yes
but then they
agreed

 Only 6% people said that no one objected on their decision. Everyone was happy.

 26% people said their in laws didn’t support them and they are not happy with their

decision. They are still not satisfied.

 Rest 68% people said that initially it was hard from them to make everyone

understand, but eventually everyone agreed and accepted their decision.

QUESTION4. Are you happy with your decision?

 HAPPINESS

Definitely yes
no

 97% people said that they are happy with their decision. They are living a
happy life.
 3% people are unhappy with their decision, they feel like maybe if they had
a boy as well, it would have been different.

QUESTION5. Don’t you feel like that after the marriage of you only daughter, you guys will
be alone?

For this question everyone had different opinions, some said they will be happy knowing that

their daughter is happy. Some already had plans like what would they do after her marriage

or where would they go. Others were saddened with the fact their only child will leave them.

Some people said they would find a son-in-law who’d agree to live with them in their house

only.

QUESTION7. Don’t you feel like your daughter needs a sibling (brother or a sister)?
 80%
70%
60%
50%
40% brother
sister
30%
20%
10%
0%
Sometimes yes no

 71% people said that they are happy with their decision of single girl child. They
don’t want any other child. They want to do their best for their only girl. Their girl is
happy without any sibling. She has friends and some even have pets.
 Out of remaining 29%, 18% people think that their baby needs a brother. On the

festivals like Rakshabandhan, she feels alone.

 11% said that they want another girl who could play with their daughter.

QUESTION8. What are your future plans for your daughter?

Everyone answered this question differently. Some want their daughter to pursue whatever

career she wants to. On the other hand some have already decided what they want their

daughter to be a doctor, a chartered accountant, an engineer or a fashion designer.

QUESTION9. If given a chance, would you have another baby?

 another baby ?

NO
YES

 87% people clearly said they don’t want another baby, no matter what.

 Other 13% said they might have another baby, but after 5 years or more , for now they

want to dedicate all of their time for their baby girl.

QUESTION10. Do you worry about saving money/gold for her marriage?

People had varied answers for this question; mostly people said they already have policies

and fixed deposits for her. They are saving for their baby; they want to give her the best they

could

Rest said we believe in everyone has his own fate, yes we are saving but we are not worrying.

Maybe she will find a guy who won’t ask for dowry. We are living in the moment, giving her

the best we can.

CONCLUSION
 Girls are the pillars of the future: Just as we say that the youth of today are the
citizens of tomorrow, so is the same with our girls. They are the women of tomorrow.
If we want to empower them, we must reduce inequality and gender gaps, and create
strong women leaders. We have to let them live today and raise them to be those
leaders of equality and development.

 Girls are the change-makers: Brigham Young once said, “You educate a man, you
educate a man. You educate a woman, you educate a generation.” Women are
naturally more social and thus more inclined to help those around them. By bringing
up their daughter with the right values and education, parents can kick-start the
change and create a change-maker.

 Multi-taskers: Women are much better at multi-tasking. They are taking up roles,
which were previously the preserve of men, like CEOs, entrepreneurs, while handling
the home and hearth with equal flair. In some cases, they are also the providers in the

family.

 Creators of inclusive spaces: Women possess qualities like perseverance, a nurturing

spirit, empathy, sensitivity which, when combined with complementary traits like

planning and organising, are conducive to creating more inclusive spaces for people.

 It is the responsibility of the educated generation to stir a revolution for the girl child.

 We need to educate those educated and uneducated ignorant who commits such

crimes as female infanticide

 Televisions, advertisements, movies, in theatre plays can influence people.

 BIBLIOGRAHY

 http://www.preservearticles.com/201106087682/917-words-essay-on-girl-child-in-

india.html

 http://www.studymode.com/subjects/importance-of-girl-child-page1.html

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