Monday, March 21, 2011

I’m just a girl

People are hypocritical about gender all the time.

In modern urban society, when an expectant daddy says that he desperately wants a daughter, people will ‘Ooh’ and ‘Aah’ about how sweet his statement is. Now, if someone were to say that they desperately want a boy, they are immediately judged for being sexist and will be the recipient of a long lecture on the benefits of having a girl in today’s world.

Girls of today are the boys of yesterday.

Also, parents of little girls are being patted on the back by peers who tell them wonderful stories of how their lives will be more than enriched in their experience of raising a girl. While Lil Girl’s dad gets away with the cliched ‘ look out for the boyfriends’ and ‘marathon phone sessions’ warnings, Little Boy’s Mom will have to hear ominous predictions on how she should learn from Ground Zero not to expect anything from her son and his daughter-in-law. All this from his diaper days.

And what about the modern mother who does not have a girl child? People look at her sympathetically, borrowing from our ancestors the 'look’ that had reserved for those who bore only girl children.

In conversation with someone on this topic, the someone did explain that modern day society does seem indulgent to people who want or have girls because of the significant biases against the girl child that existed in the past. The wheels have turned and the preference for a girl child marks an important societal change.

However, in India this change has happened only in a very small section of modern society, those with access to education and exposure. For the larger section of our population, a girl child is not wanted, female infanticide remains a social evil and poor families continue to have children till they chance upon a son.

While topics on gender-preference and acceptance are light-hearted banter in our everyday conversations, it makes or breaks the lives of many lower-income families.

Lifestyle of the family, education of the older girl children and health of the mother are compromised as the rest of the family goads the couple to sire a male child. Spreading positive awareness on this topic to at least four people around us starting with our own helpers may help in a small way to bring about a necessary change in attitude.

Till then, God bless all our children.

Blog Title: I’m just a girl – No Doubt

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