Is It My Fault That My Gender Is Female?

Woes of womanhood.

- Dr Rameeza A. Rasheed

When I was still in the womb I heard from various sources that in India the son preference attitude is very strong resulting in large-scale abortions, especially among the well-off and educated families and in well-developed states resulting in the skewed sex ratio – ie. 940:1000.

Foeticide

I was a female foetus. When my mother’s pregnancy was confirmed, there was jubilation in my family. But that turned into sorrow the minute the family learnt that the child to be born would be a girl, thanks to advancement in medical technology. From that day, I was helplessly watching my mother weeping all the time in the privacy of her room and arguing with my father against the decision of the family to abort me since they wanted the eldest child to be a boy. Finally, only their will prevailed over my mother’s wishes and I was brutally prevented from seeing this world. My fundamental right to be born was denied to me.

Infanticide

My family allowed me to be born since they could not determine my sex before birth and I was born as girl into this world in a poor family. When I was still alive I heard that in India the practice of female infanticide is widespread due to dowry and security problems and contributes significantly to the number of “missing women”(Amartia Sen’s description).From the date of my birth, the elders in the family and my father were planning to kill me since they considered me as a future burden on their limited income. My mother’s pleadings were turned down. After one week of my birth, during an early morning, a village traditional birth attendant ended my life by pouring hot milk into my throat and then choking me with a handful of paddy. Only my mother cried uncontrollably. Thus, my right to live was denied to me.

Female child mortality