Page 19 - English Tehelka Issue 5 - March 15, 2018

Women’s day

f there is one particular thing, just a single The PerPeTual
factor, that strongly determines the course lesser halves
that people’s lives take, what would it be?
Let’s not try to answer this question in sev- Nobel Prize-winning Indian economist Amartya
I eral words or sentences by spelling out the Sen had in an essay written in 1990 for The New
various decisive factors. There certainly is a wide York Review of Books thrown light on the phenom-
range of elements that shape the lives of people. enon of the country’s ‘missing women’ — over a
However, if we have to name just one most impor- hundred million women were simply ‘missing’ or
tant facet that is not only crucial but also inexo- had been eliminated from the country’s population
rable in governing every individual’s life, what do owing to female infanticide, female foeticide and
we think it is? deaths of girls and women due to neglect following
Is it the person’s economic status, that is subject inadequate healthcare and nutrition owing to
to change on several occasions in a lifetime, or one’s their sex. He had stated that while in Europe and
religion or, especially in the context of our county, North America the ratio of women to men was
one’s caste? Is it the family that one is born into typically around 1.05 or 1.06 or higher, the same
or the amount of education that one acquires? Or
is it the person’s inherent nature or the decisions
that one takes for oneself over time? If we think In creating mainly two
hard enough, the one logical factor that is ought to
come to our minds, that at least comes to my mind
more often than not, is ‘gender’ or the ‘sex’ that one distinct sexes, isn’t
is born with.
During birth announcements, the only thing nature’s intention
about newborns that is sought to be known is
CoverStory whether it’s a girl or a boy. There is no doubt that to create two halves
the sex we are born with — our biological charac-
teristics — lay the foundation of our lives. However, or two equals that
Being proportion and is the basis on which various con- complement one
our sex — male or female — is usually blown out of
ditions and restrictions are imposed on us. Does
nature simply assign males and females distinct
another in bringing
biological roles or does it also assert a gender-based
Woman = Being ranking system as assumed by humans especially life to a full circle?
in parochial societies and countries like ours? In
creating mainly two distinct sexes, isn’t nature’s
intention to create two halves or two equals that
UneqUal complement one another in together bringing life ratio in South Asia (including India), West Asia
to a full circle?
and China was as low as 0.94. According to the
While gender inequality and biases against
World Health Organization (WHO), the biologically
women are prevalent in distinct ways and
magnitudes across the globe, even in the developed
every girl. This points to substantial differences in
countries of the West, let us talk only in the context determined natural sex ratio at birth is 1.05 boy for
In as diverse and complex a country as India where multiple cultures prevail, of India where gender discrimination and the preferences for girls in the developed West and in
poor status of women is certainly a massive social
conservative Asia.
the one thing that is pervasive across states, cities, towns and villages is gender problem. There are several kinds of inequalities As per the last population census conducted in
discrimination and biases against females. On International Women’s Day, in our country, most prominently on the basis of 2011, the population ratio in India was 940 females
ridhima malhotra opines on the oxymoron of women not being given their caste, religion and socio-economic class. But the per 100 males. This was slightly better than the
inequality that stands out most starkly is that on
sex ratio of 933 females per 1000 males as per the
dues in a land where goddesses are revered. the basis of gender — almost half of our population Census 2001. Census 2011 also gave the estimate
is female and very evidently suffers extreme that of our then total population of 1210.19 million,
discrimination on various fronts. In our country, 48.50 per cent were females and 51.50 per cent
being a woman automatically implies being inferior were males.
to men. Even in the case of children, not even According to a 2011 study published in the British
sparing babies, being a girl comes with the tag of medical journal The Lancet, upto 12 million female
being secondary to boys. foetuses had been aborted in the last three decades

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