Our site administrator Paul tips us off to an article over at the BBC today that highlights a unique new program launched by the government of India:
The Indian government is planning to set up a network of cradles around the country where parents can leave unwanted baby girls.
The minister for women and child development, Renuka Chowdhury, told BBC News the cradles would be “everywhere”.
It is the latest initiative to try to wipe out the practice of female foeticide and female infanticide. [Link]
In my opinion anything that will help mitigate the foeticide and infanticide scourge is a good thing, but the imagery of little cradles set up around the country is kind of bittersweet.
“We will have cradles strategically placed all over the place so that people who don’t want their babies can leave them there,” Ms Chowdhury told the BBC News website.
The cradles could be in places as diverse as the local tax collector’s office, or where local councils meet.
Ms Chowdhury said parents would be able to leave their babies secretly. The important thing was to save their lives…
“They will be collected and put into homes,” she said. “There are plenty of existing homes and we will be adding some more also…” [Link]
Apparently there is actually a precedent for this type of program (in Japan):
The drop-off at Jikei Hospital in southern Japan will consist of a small window in an outside wall, which opens on to an incubator bed, officials say.
Once a baby has been placed inside, an alarm bell will alert staff. [Link]
#49 MoorNam
Perhaps when all those sons are marrying outside the lines of caste and creed, things will have come around.
I wonder what the final consequence will be on the Indian population and social structure when the gender ratio becomes dire. I also wonder if the girls “rescued” via these cradle depots will be able to find their place in society. It seems likely that a large number will end up as commodities in some sort of human trafficking. I wonder what it will take for the society as a whole to see the long term importance of a balanced gender ratio.
Can we get some moderation here please.
Some really really scary stuff going on, I\’m surprised all the post-colonial types here are choosing to remain quite about it. Upsetting THE BENEFACTOR certainly aint kewl.
Read the entire pdf for more hair-raising stuff.
http://www.rethinking-nordic-colonialism.org/files/pdf/ACT3/MANUSCRIPTS/Huebinette.pdf
Between European Colonial Trafficking, American Empire-Building and Nordic Social Engineering: Rethinking International Adoption From a Postcolonial and Feminist Perspective by Tobias Hübinette
International adoption, the movement of predominantly non-white children from the postcolonial, so-called Third World to white adoptive parents in Western Europe, North America, Australia and Scandinavia, was born in the chaotic aftermath of the catastrophic and genocide-like Korean War. This forced child migration, which today involves around 30,000 children annually, has seen the trafficking of an estimated half a million children to date. Within this estimation, at least 160,000, or one third, come from Korea and 80,000, or amazing 15%, have been placed in the Nordic countries.
In the 1950s, the practice was initiated as a rescue mission with strong Christian fundamentalist and particularly Lutheran undertones, while it came to be perceived as a progressive act of solidarity during the left-liberal 1960s and 1970s… At the same time, they it as a necessary evil, well aware that it generates huge amounts of money and sustains a profitable adoption industry.
…..Having imported almost half a million children to Western countries over a period of fifty years, contemporary international adoption has come to have many parallels to the Atlantic slave trade. Examples include the shipping of 11 million Africans to indentured labour in the New World, between 1510-1870, 12 million Indians and Chinese dispatched as “coolies†to the vast European 3 Empires between 1834-1941 and, finally, the contemporary trafficking of non- Western women for international marriage and sexual exploitation. These four examples of forced migration can be conceptualized as a long standing Western tradition of commodification and intercontinental transportation of non-white populations.
I wonder if Deepa Mehta would be interested in making a movie about present day sex slaves. What would she call it?. Water 2
Preston writes:
While I agree with your general idea, I cringe at the way you put it. Who are we men to “allow” women to do something?
BTW, the laws in India give equal rights to all in terms of owning property etc. Yet, dowry has not gone away. It exists among the educated, middle-rich class, and gasp even Indian Christians and Muslims. I would not be too surprised to hear the Bachchans getting some from the Rais.
Indeed, dowry does not exist among the tribals of India who have no concept of women’s rights. Go figure!
M. Nam
umm … the world needs a lot of caring hands – nurses, red cross workers, social workers, environmentalists, care givers …. Wondering if Renuka Chowdhary can convert all of these “deposit kid here” centers into a training centers to graduate some of the finest care givers in the world …
um. are you an international pimp to speak out thus and fell social mores, systemic oversight, the law and civic jurisprudence in one wideassss swoop. that just seems thoughtless and/or unnecessarily inflammatory, dear porky.
It’s not only “Kerala” that “stands as an anomaly in Asia.” In South Asia, so does Sri Lanka. As for the rest of Asia, think Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia – none of them have issues with female infanticide.
One more scheme thought up to swindle the easily available tax money. Package things as being a good cause, demand tax money as grants for the scheme and swindle it…nice modus operandi. And besides, I am sure the govt will definitely find “homes” for the children…where they are abused and made to do menial work that is for sure…a bonanza of a scheme for all people involved in human trafficking whether it is for male child labourers or female child sex workers.
There was a movie Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women which cover the issue, pretty depressing movie, the have polyandry and more abuse.
Just checked youtube and the trailer for that is up, Samir: Matrubhoomi
Looks like one to watch alongside ‘Children of Men’ and then slit your wrists to. Except one of the movies isnt science fiction.
Damn. If I was a Punjabi girl, every time an elderly male in the family asked me how I was doing, I’d say “I’m alive bitch, that’s how I’m doin. I’m alive”
There was a report a few years ago that was widely reported in the indian press that showed Delhi had an even worse sex ratio than Haryana and Rajasthan. And the wealthier parts of Delhi were worse than the poorer parts! Not sure if that still holds, but it was very striking.
The problem of young men not being able to find brides exists already in Punjab, I recently read something about how women are “imported” from the north east for Punjabi men. It’s a problem in China too.
Well, the ratios are most stark in parts of Punjab and Haryana, but those states constitute, what, 3% of the population of India? This stuff is happening everywhere. It’s feaking me out. Technology + backward feudal attitudes is a disaster. This technology, gender screening scans, just grafts onto existing social attitudes and is utilised to enact hideous things. This is a really dark aspect of Indian modernity.
Punjab isn’t all that big population-wise, agreed, but it offers a particularly chilling example of the combination of relative prosperity/access to technology and misogynistic social attitudes.
You’d think that with the increasing desperation of Punjabi and Haryanvi men for brides and the growth of marriage brokers importing women from Bengal and Bihar and the growing incidence of bride-price, not to mention the fact that so many young women now work outside the home, parents’ attitudes towards their daughters as a “burden” would change, but no. Parents will still want boys, men will just buy poor women, or revise the age of marriageable girls downward That is what’s truly depressing.
The solution is the free market. Wait, no. This is the free market- more money, more choice.
No, the solution is to pressure families to keep their female children so they can be syphoned to America and create as many college Bhangra competitions as possible: Bhangra Fusion, Bhangra Blowout, Bhangra Explosion, Bhangra Implosion, and Bhangra Westchester County Fair are simply not enough.
Oh how hilarious.
JangiahMan – saw you on myspace. I’m not “porky”. I don’t eat pork.
Does anyone personally know or know of desis in the last ten years or so who have had sex-selective abortions, or had five kids while holding out for a son, and that sort of thing? The closest I’ve come to seeing that is the family sharing the maternity ward room with a cousin about 15 years ago, both my cousin and the other lady had had girls, and the other family (esp the MIL) were wailing and giving the DIL shit. And this was in a south Bombay hospital, for heavens sake.
Heh. So the word ‘caste’ is the proverbial elephant in the room for this discussion, I guess.
Some castes run adoption agencies for their caste kinsman. I recall a Nadar (Tamil caste) leader vowing that know Nadar child will be left behind, or some such thing.
Indeed, dowry does not exist among the tribals of India who have no concept of women’s rights. Go figure!
Two states dominated by tribal populations, Chattisgarh and Orissa, have (relatively) impressive sex ratios as well. 989 and 972, respectively, at least in 2001.
Here is the 2001 2001 data
not only “Kerala” that “stands as an anomaly in Asia.” In South Asia, so does Sri Lanka. As for the rest of Asia, think Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia – none of them have issues with female infanticide.
That being said, if you think the slave trade is not a reality, do some research. And rest assured, where there are unprotected babies and children – the masterminds behind that racket will be there.
Risible – interesting caste-solidary adoption example. Perhaps one of the things that makes me less than hopeful about the new cradle initiative is that Indians have all sorts of options to put children up for adoption, have clans and biradiris and extended families help them out and so on, but so many would still want to abort that female foetus – and when even those who can well afford to bring up a girl and pay her dowry and so on choose to abort, that’s when it’s clear that the culturally entrenched bias can’t really be explained or addressed in terms of rational incentives.
Actually, I read an article about this in 2004 in the Times of India called,”Gujarati boys forced to pay dowry.” It’s already started in Gujarat where well-educated boys are unable to find girls to marry. Economics will turn this situation around, because at some point, the mothers of these precious sons will learn there are no daughters to have precious grandsons. They will start fighting over the few available girls and be forced to pay dowrys. Eventually, it will become way too expensive to have sons in India, and we will have to deal with male infanticide. Alas…
that’s when it’s clear that the culturally entrenched bias can’t really be explained or addressed in terms of rational incentives.
Yep, educated and wealthy folks, South Delhi – where in many colonies houses sell for five crores (UDS $1 million) and up, have abominable ratios at the moment. Very disturbing…
Bloody hell.
In South Asia, so does Sri Lanka. As for the rest of Asia, think Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia – none of them have issues with female infanticide.
There is no issue in Africa either, for the most part, excepting Botswana, Dijibouti (?). The North African countries are impressive as well (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco).
Algeria 103 Angola 98 Benin 97 Botswana 63 Burkina Faso 94 Burundi 94 Cameroon 99 Cape Verde 87 Central African Republic 95 Chad 98 Comoros 100 Congo (Brazzaville) 96 Congo (Kinshasa) 98 Djibouti 89 Egypt 103 Equatorial Guinea 97 Eritrea 99 Ethiopia 99 Gabon 98 Gambia, The 98 Ghana 99 Guinea 101 Guinea-Bissau 97 Kenya 99 Lesotho 98 Liberia 101 Libya 108 Madagascar 99 Malawi 99 Mali 98 Mauritania 98 Mauritius 99 Mayotte
Morocco 100 Mozambique 98 Namibia 98 Niger 102 Nigeria 102 Reunion 96 Rwanda 98 Saint Helena
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal 99 Seychelles
Sierra Leone 97 Somalia 99 South Africa 97 Sudan 101 Swaziland 97 Tanzania
Togo 99 Tunisia 102 Uganda 100 Western Sahara 99 Zambia 101 Zimbabwe 100
Does anyone else think that in Punjab maybe the time for gay marriage to be legal will be good idea to help all those extra men who can’t find a wife. One postive thing about gay marriage would be is that the families can take pride in that there son’s have not shamed the families by having daughters.
On a more serious note. I don’t think I have seen any comments on what can be done to fix this problems in the west. This is happening so much in Canada among the punjabi community. So men in punjab will have to deal with punjabi men in Canada more then usual looking for a wife, since there will be so few punjabi girls born in Canada.
If this saves just one girl, then it’s worth it.
Do you have statistics for it happening in Canada clueless? You keep mentioning it and saying nobody is talking about it, and that’s probably because nobody is informed about it. Is it an epidemic or is it isolated episodes? Stats shouldnt be hard to come by.
Clueless,
There have to be laws against this in Canada. Maybe not gender-specific abortion, but infanticide certainly. And I suspect Canadian prosecutors would be way more aggressive about doing something than Indian ones are (because of the different cultural backgrounds involved).
But I also think that more sexual assimilation and interracial marriage is going to happen in the West no matter what. Especially as the supply of girls struggles to keep up thanks to backwards attitudes on parents’ parts. Arranged marriage is already uncomfortably mechanistic and economical to many people raised in the West, and the contracting supply of Suitable Fair High-Caste Girls With College Degree From [Appropriate Town in Appropriate State] will only increase the competitiveness of the aunty-driven marriage market. Much more comfortable not to deal with it and just date that native-born girl who happens to like your taste in movies, music, etc…
If you just start observing various households in middle class in India (my observations are in Maharashtra, but I am sur eotehr states wont disappoint you, you will see a few families at least – 1st 3-4 children are girls, the 4/5th one is a boy and the age difference betweent he youngest and the youngest but one is significant. Draw your own conclusions, I used to wonder when Iw as younger how they always get a son successfully after 3-4 daughters.
Yes, Have not watched it but have heard lots of it and so really want to check it out. I think cinematicallly too its a very well made movie from what I hear.
Speaking of dowry, it has its ugly head everywhere even now. Just that due to laws and stuff its not as blatant. People still expect dowry and give hints, parents still give dowry. Now its just called as a ‘fathers love for her daughter’ thingy instead of open dowry. Does not mean its disappeared. I wont be surprised if Rai does take bunch load of stuff to the Bachans’.
And of course all of these factors apply to women raised in the West too. There may be more of a glut of Suitable Boys (so maybe more attractive prospects?), but the annoying aspects of the process remain the same.
Closest thing I could find on Canada:
The Western Standard has demonstrated that certain communities in British Columbia and Ontario, with large proportions of immigrants from India and China, are experiencing the same unusual sex ratios seen in those Asian countries.
For instance, Chinese immigrants comprise 12 per cent of the population of Coquitlam, B.C. In 2000, 116 boys were born there for every 100 girls. In areas of Brampton, Ont. with large numbers of Indian immigrants, 109 boys were born in 2001 for every 100 girls.
This country has likely lost thousands of girls to sex-selection abortion, but hard data is difficult to compile. Alternative explanations, such as increased viral infection among Indian women, simply do not account for the large variations between communities. Anecdotal and statistical evidence shows that sex-selection abortion is the best explanation for the distortion.
Dude won short film award at Cannes for his first film. His skills/resume are quite impressive. Link
Anyone have an insight into the Chinese problem and how it stacks up against India in terms of causes and remedies?
Now its just called as a ‘fathers love for her daughter’ thingy instead of open dowry. Does not mean its disappeared.
I understand where you’re coming from. The idea of a father merely making a gift of wealth to his daughter at her wedding is a nice work-around the dowry system. However, sometimes a gift really is just a gift.
Speaking for myself, my extended family has been anti-dowry since my grandparents first got married, but that doesn’t mean that parents haven’t spent an arm and a leg for their daughters’ weddings. How can you work around the stuff parents feel they have to do, either for their daughter’s sake, or to keep up with Joneses? I come from a family where daughters have been pretty rare, and therefore, a daughter’s wedding becomes a very big deal for the whole family.
I don’t know if anti-dowry legislation can prevent parents from blowing their life’s fortune on a wedding.
Re: Indian tribals. The All-India ratio for tribals is 978 vs. 933 for India as a whole, so the various tribal cultures are doing far better, more impressive and egalitarian than ‘civilized’ urban denizens; though I suspect that modernity and further social integration may doom their girls too.
Scheduled castes (the so-called untouchables) are doing as miserably as the rest of India, with a national ratio around the average of 933.
There is nothing wrong with that and it is in fact a nice thing, because the father wants the new couple to be financially secure and if the father can do it, why not. If its just that, its cool. However, when the grooms side of family starts hinting through suggestions to the effect of beti se toh aap bahut pyaar karte honge, or nayi jodi ko settle karna bhi zaroori hai, thats where dowry is implied in a subtle way and which is wrong (especially when the parents of the girl have to do more than they can afford).
You see that’s what gets me — this is an aspect of modernity. Modernity is always painted as a shiny clean and wonderful thing and technology will automatically elevate and ennoble — but here technology just unleashes something very dark. Primitive attitudes + modern technology = horror.
By the way that interview Shodan linked to with the film director is great reading. Gives you hope for Indian cinema too!
You see that’s what gets me — this is an aspect of modernity. Modernity is always painted as a shiny clean and wonderful thing and technology will automatically elevate and ennoble — but here technology just unleashes something very dark. Primitive attitudes + modern technology = horror.
Absolutely. We’ve seen what the advances in technology had done in the West in the twentieth century : mass killings on an unprecedented scale, smart bombs, gas chambers, etc. The early positivists (eg Comte) believed that technology and science would usher in a new, harmonious era in human history. But our impulses – selfishness, avarice, the need to dominate – have not changed one bit, and there seems to be little progress in politics when looking at the world as a whole.
Is Manish Jha related to Prakash Jha of Mritudand fame?
There was big story in the Globe and Mail last month, but now you have to buy the story to read it.
This blog has large part of that story. http://magicstatistics.com/2007/01/19/
It’s the 4th story on the page.
the only reason the punjoos get away with it is because the women keep quiet. canada is the most hairy-ass misandrous society around – they cut the nuts off at birth.
Which is why I’m betting that internal cohesion in these subgroups will last over time. If you’re a girl growing up in the West, why would you seriously consider a groom who would mistreat you this way if you have to option to go outside your culture?
According to The CIA World Factbook the sex ratio at birth for India is the same as that for the US (link) :
India: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 1.02 male(s)/female total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
United States: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Also, according to the wikipedia article, a ratio of 1.05 (approx 952 girls for 1000 boys) is biologically normal(even mother nature prefers boys 😉 ).
The sex ratios for the 15-64 yrs group, and also the overall ratio, is more skewed. If the data is correct, this suggests the problem has gone down recently, and the current skewed ratio is more of a product of past attitudes.
This of course is very limited data. It would be interesting if someone has more data in how the demographic trend has changed over the last few years.
Red Snapper, World Cup promises to be fun. Inserting my trademark MUHAHAHAHAâ„¢ here. Apologies for threadjack people.
“It’s amazing that anyone can seriously believe that the gender of a baby is a single person’s “fault” though. I mean I understand a lack of knowledge about biology, but doesn’t everyone know that offspring are a combination of the mother and father?”
Actually, the sex of the child is pretty much the father’s “fault” since the sex-determining x or y chromosome comes from the dad. It’s possible that there are some (probably theoretical) factors that make one or the other embryo more likely to implant in the mother’s uterus, but as far as the genetic sex of the child goes, it is really determined just by which gene is carried by the sperm that fertilizes the egg, an x or a y, and a normal sperm carries one or the other. Not that I think anyone should be “faulted” for anything about a child…
There’s a precedent for this in Pakistan, too–the Edhi foundation has provided baby cradles outside its centers around the country for many years. Not just for girls, but for all unwanted infants. These cradles have saved many lives. More here: http://www.edhi.org/services/cradle.htm