Female Infantism

Introduction

Practice of abortion and infanticide are not confined to primitive or unsophisticated communities. They have been the common practices since the earliest records of human history. In the Roman Monarchy and law man had power on all live possessions including wife and babies. The Roman law code permitted a father to expose any female infant and deformed baby of any sex. So we can see that the gender bias as old as human history. In India the states of affairs were different. As far back as possible we can trace in India the general attitude to women was one of respect. Women were considered as symbol of power because they are mothers from whom all life originates, act of sex was considered holy for it was associated with the possibility of origin of a new life, sexual life was considered a matter to be instructed on for a successful living of a human person. Somewhere along the line this high respect for women was lost and sex became a shameful thing to be addressed openly. The sad part is that many women in India are also trained to think that men are superior or 'Male Chauvinists'. The gender bias crept into every walk of life. In the recent past and present in India has one of the most shameful records on Women's status. Therefore the practice of female infanticide and female foeticide are at their high rates in India.

British efforts to suppress female infanticide

During their rule, the British discovered female infanticide in India in 1789. Thereafter the British discovered female infanticide in various parts of north and west India. From the date of first discovery of the practice by the British (1789) till the passing of the Female Infanticide Act in March 1870 by the Viceroy's Council, female infanticide was the subject of elaborate correspondence and reports. Alexander Walker, the British resident at Baroda in his report to Duncan of March 1808 estimated that the total number of jadeja rajput households in Kutch and Kathiawad was around 1,25,000 and the number of female infants annually destroyed was about 20,000. Walker also reported that in the household of Rana of Porbandar, a jethwa rajput of high rank, there had been "no grown up daughters for more than a hundred years". However during late 18th and early 19th century (till 1830), the British never resorted to coercion to suppress female infanticide. By the 1830s while the British rule was on a secure footing, they resorted to coercion, sometimes of a brutal kind to stop female infanticide involving close police supervision of castes that resorted to the practice and engaging paid informers to detect cases of infanticide.

Gravity of the problem

The development process has increased the life expectancy of both the sexes. In this the life expectancy is higher for females than males. But in spite of this increasing female Life Expectancy the Sex-Ratio is decreasing (Sex-Ratio has been constantly decreasing in India from the beginning of the 20th century- see table-1).

Sex-Ratio and Life expectancy in Female Infanticide deaths in Tamil Nadu 1994-1999

Districts 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total

Salem 938 982 7881 1118 1326 1223 6368

Dharmapuri 947 1048 1081 1048 985 657 5766

Theni 352 320 402 281 260 231 1846

Krishnagiri 117 151 138 196 255 320 1177

Dindigul 109 116 75 73 60 60 493

Namakkal 32 51 25 107 147 136 498

Tirupaathur 143 176 142 139 158 142 900

Madurai 288 251 158 125 73 79 974

Erode 43 69 83 77 93 70 435

Total 2969 3164 2885 3164 3357 2918 18457

India from 1901 to 2001

Year Sex-Ratio Life Expectancy

Male Female

1901 972 23.6 24

1911 964 22.6 23.3

1921 955 19.4 20.9

1931 950 26.9 26.6

1941 945 32.1 31.4

1951 946 32.5 31.7

1961 941 41.9 40.6

1971 930 46.4 44.7

1981 933 54.1 54.7

1991 929 60.9 64

2001 925 64.1 64.7

Table - 2

Table - 1

However evil practices such as female infanticide and female foeticide are not reflected in the official data in spite of the fact that the Indian Census is regarded as one of the most accurate in the world. Even assuming that there is undercounting of females, it may not account for such low sex ratio. Hence this is a clear indication that higher rate of female infanticide, neglect of female child, provision of poor health care facilities to them are some of the reasons for the declining sex ratio. After the media highlighted the female infanticide in Tamil Nadu, studies under taken by the non-governmental organizations and by the individual researchers confirmed that the problem of female infanticide has prevalence in many parts of Tamil Nadu. Table-2 shows the number of female infanticide deaths carried out in the various districts of Tamil Nadu from 1994 to 1999. It has been estimated in the mid 19990s that more than 50,000 abortions of female fetuses are performed in India every year. 70% of all abortions performed in India are for selective female foeticide.

Causes of Female Infanticide and Foeticide

The scientific reductionism which harps on the mother's right to decide about the continuation of pregnancy is what supports foeticides from medical point of view as a common practice. In the instances of selective female foeticides that is common in our country mothers are seduced think that females are a burden or brainwashed by overpowering male chauvinists who wants male baby to inherit their pride and prestige. It is a vicious cycle. The gender bias against women or the lowly status of women in society is the underlying cause for female