Monday, November 22, 2004

"When she woke up she asked about her baby. "Again a girl! Are you not ashamed of yourself? The third time and still a girl." Malli did not open her mouth after that. Neither did she ask for her newborn. She knew what awaited her. She knew the eventuality. She knew her mother-in-law. She knew her husband, who had threatened to send her to her parental home if she delivered a baby girl again.
She knew someone may have already inserted a grain into her daughter's mouth, or fed her yerakkam pal, or may have drowned her in a bucket of water. She knew everything, but she remained silent. The hapless young mother of two unwanted girls wanted to sleep forever." (Rediff)


I have been reading a book I picked up at one of the Kuwait Bookshop branches (someone in purchasing is doing a good job these days) ..It's called 50 Facts that Should Change the World..
And in recognition of the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (this last saturday the 20th) i thought i would mention one of the many sad facts that are in the book..a fact that has something to do with the painful quote above..

China has 44 million 'missing' women

What's that about?
"The phenomenon of "missing women" is almost certainly due to behavioral factors that reflect a preference for male children. These include selective abortion, infanticide and neglect (Foster and Rosenzweig, 2001). The result is that an estimated 30-70 million women
are "missing" from India and China alone." (Nancy Qian)

As defined by UNICEF, Female infanticide is defined as the abortion of a fetus because it is female or the killing of an infant by a relative because it is female. Infanticide has been practiced as a brutal method of family planning in societies where boy children are still valued, economically and socially, above girls... Medical testing for sex selection, though officially outlawed, has become a booming business in China, India and the Republic of Korea. (V-Day)

In case you thought it only happens in developing countries..Infanticide is a worldwide problem..though its causes differ among countries..

In the US:

Of all children under age 5 murdered from 1976-2002 --
31% were killed by fathers
30% were killed by mothers
23% were killed by male acquaintances
6% were killed by other relatives
3% were killed by strangers

(US Dept of Justice)

Statistically, the US ranks high on the list of countries whose inhabitants kill their children. For infants under the age of 1 year, the American homicide rate is 11th in the world, while for ages 1 - 4 it is 1st and for ages 5 - 14 it is 4th. From 1968 to 1975, infanticide of all ages accounted for 3.2% of all homicides in the US.(karisable.com)

Nearly five infants under the age of 1 are killed in the United States each week, according to a CNN review of FBI statistics.(1995 study)

China and India:
"gendercide" in China has resulted in the deaths of at least 50 million girls.
The government is promoting what it calls "Girl Care Project" – teaching rural families to value daughters as much as sons
" (WND)

"(Amrtya) Sen used the concept of "missing women" to dramatize the wrenching consequences, in many parts of the world, of anti-female bias in nutrition, health care, and other basics of life. In China and other countries where there is a strong preference for male babies, sex-selective abortion and even infanticide of female babies undoubtedly contribute to the number of missing women."(Dollars and Sense)

For more information about female infanticide in China and India see Gendercide...or here..

Gender-based infanticide, abortion, malnutrition and neglect are believed to be behind 60 to 100 million women ‘missing’ from the world’s population. 90 per cent of child domestic workers are girls between 12 and 17 years old.(UNICEF)


81:8 واذا الموؤودة سئلت
81:9 باي ذنب قتلت
And when the girl-child, buried alive, is asked for what possible sin she was murdered'
Holy Quran 81:8-9





7 comments:

Q said...

wow thats scary! 40 million! I had no clue the US was up there!

Drunk'n'Gorgeous said...

So you're not going to able to make it to the "blog gathering" thing? That sucks. I was looking forward to meeting you as well. Well, just the same, let me know if you change your mind or if there's anything I can do to change it.

kwtia said...

Yes pretty disturbing news, I know, sorry, but it needs to be known..that we can still do things like that to the most helpless members of our human family is very sad..
D&G, I hope you guys have a blast and that you all get along and form a closer unit (one that is still able to differ and disagree though)..I am not ready to give up the seclusion that makes blogging fun for me..I also like that I know everyone through their writings and their thoughts..when I am ready to get out of the shell I will let you know..Have fun!

Q said...

kwtia, i was watching discovery civilization channel a couple of days ago, im addicted to it......anyway this show was about ancient rituals. Other than burrying girls alive, in Carthage they used to sacrifice children to please the gods, since children are younger which means they are closer to god.
In one battle, the emperor ordered 500 children to be sacrificed at a certain cave to defeat the enemy armies. U know whats the weird thing? the enemy army for no known reason actually withdrew after the sacrifice happened, which reinforced that ritual!

kwtia said...

Q, weird story..humans are odd creatues..and maybe the opposing army was terrified by the news that these folks had killed so many babies..they might have thought 'hey if they are crazy enough to do that, we best be on our way'..

Zaydoun said...

What blogger gathering??? How come I wasn't invited???

kwtia said...

Zaydoun, my friend, sorry but the girls are doing a 'girls night out', this being a place where the gender mixing can be strangely uncomfortable..at first..here's to the day when the imagined lines seperating people get blurry and unimportant...hope they all have a good time..