Gendercide In India and China

Female Infanticide In India

References

BBC. (2014, January 1). Female Infanticide. Retrieved March 20, 2014. Web. from

BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml

Commerce, T. C. (2012, January 1). Canada-India: The Way Forward. Retrieved

March 20, 2014. Web. from www.deltachamber.ca: http://www.deltachamber.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Canada-India_The-way-forward.pdf

Griffiths, M. (2005). Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics. New

York: Routledge. Page 302. Web. Google Books Version: http://books.google.

ca/books?id=nkw3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA302&lpg=PA302&dq=gendercide+was+coined+by&source=bl&ots=MwmNc_3yEy&sig=DKuT3CwDfJyYDCvjQKsCM4Rxcrs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vuU4U6u4K4WQqwG4xICIDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=gendercide%20was%20coined%20by&f=false

Jones, A. (2013, Janurary 1). Gendercide watch. Retrieved March 20, 2014. Web. from

www.gendercide.org: http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html

Omohundro, J. T. (2007). Thinking Like an Anthropologist: A Practical Introduction to

Cultural Anthropology. McGraw-Hill Education. Print.

Saxon, M. (2013). The Disability Studies Reader. (L. J. Davis, Ed.) Chapter 7: Disability

Rights and Selective Abortions. Web. Google Books Version: http://books.goo

gle.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Oor7avo2iDkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA87&dq=abortion+due+to+disability&ots=ocGQfbxmX&sig=gUQScsbGImqsrB9I_BxwyKTyWE#v=onepage&q=abortion%20due%20to%20disability&f=false

With 140 males rationing every 100 females. The male population is extremely inflated which leaves the female population exposed and easily exploited. Every moment of a womans life is dictated by a heavy male influence.

Samuel, E. (2002). Dowry and dowry harassment in India :an assessment based on modified capitalist patriarchy. African And Asian Studies, 1(3), 187-229.

Diamond-Smith, N. (2008). 'Too many girls, too much dowry' :son preference and daughter aversion in rural Tamil Nadu, India. Culture, Health And Sexuality, 10(7), 697-708.

YouTube References.

Shadowline Films. (2011, Aug 8). It's a Girl Documentary Film - Official Trailer.

SkyNewsAustralia. (2013, Jun 26). Tracey Spicer's special report from India on gendercide.

Naturalistic

Question

We are studying this topic out of interest as University students at St. Thomas University in an Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class.

How is Female Infanticide

normally used?

Holistic Question

Dialogic Question

What do the "People" say?

Female infanticide is used as a means to ensure the birth of a male child and is practiced largely due to financial issues, religion and recently in response to a one baby law put into effect by China. female infanticide occurs when a female fetus is aborted or killed within the first year of life.

For both women and men, infanticide has become a huge part of their ongoing life. Aspects that seem unrealitive at all are now effected by this phenomenon.

"through dialogue, the anthropologist learns the culture. In dialogue the observer shares power with the informant, building a common understanding"

Females in India, epically lower class Fear marriage. whats supposed to be a time of celebration is often a time of loss for the families of the bride. A dowry, (property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage day [dictionary.com]) is paid, and the daughter is often never seen again.

Dowry is in direct relation to

the action of gender selective abortions

and female infanticide. Many

families cannot afford the dowry

of having a female, but the

aspect of gaining wealth due to

a male birth causes great

distinction in how a family feels

about the female child.

(BBC, 2014).

Omohundro (2004)

(BBC, 2014)

blogsthenews.com

After Marriage

Although we didn't share any personal dialogue conversations, we did have the opportunity to read about some interactions that a few anthropologists have had. Here's an example of a dialogical reaction between an anthropologist and an Indian Mother, explaining her husbands need for male children.

After the marriage the corroborate begins. Young couples expecting their first babies are crippled with the decision to favor a male fetus over a female. Most woman in India would agree that they wouldn't kill their baby daughters, but many would consider a fetus as being not yet human and increasingly woman are turning to sex selective abortions.

In China and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys' greater susceptibility to infant disease, but nothing on this scale. [theconmist.com]

Referring to the argument of pro-choice and pro-life movements, many anti-abortionists would see this phenomenon as a genocide. For many other people, due to the huge divide in beliefs, argue that the labeling this phenomenon as "Gendercide" is controversial because it does not fall within the categorical distinctions of genocide.

NA

• "Females are a burden to the family"

NA

• "Fetuses are not human, babies can not yet think."

As you can tell gendercide can not be classified as genocide due to its complex properties and missing important steps that organizes the definition as a genocide. So we will try to avert classifying it as such.

• Religion, Dowry, Hospital abortions and even the one baby law in China is a form of organization.

Diamond-Smith, N. (2008).

• Laws that may forbid intermarriage or social interaction. Extremist terrorism targets moderates, intimidating and silencing the center. Moderates from the perpetrators’ own group are most able to stop genocide, so are the first to be arrested and killed

• They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims

"I really need one boy and one girl, my husband needed only boys because he has three sisters, so that’s what the problem of arranging marriage and all the things for the girl child is very expensive. So that is why he has chosen that boys are good. But I feel that I need a girl child because the girl child is so caring compared to the boy." (Anjali, aged 26, 2 boys, 12 years of schooling, sterilized)

Comparative

Question

Can we over-look our biases?

Of course we can over-look our biases about Female Infanticide but deep down we understand that it wouldn't be accepted here in our culture. We understand that we can't let our own societies practices or what we see as acceptable/the norm become intertwined within our research and have bias findings of Female Infanticide.

.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan

Relativistic Question

• Canada does not practice Female Infanticide yet it does have abortions. Terminating a pregnancy is seen as the woman's choice and is often done discreetly. Woman usually abort due to financial situations, age, health concerns and sometime on the terms of non consensual sex.

Does Canada do something similar to Female Infanticide?

Canada Population; 33 million

Has our original judgement limited or colored our understanding of it?

• killing a child once it is born is illegal and prison time would occur in both Canada and India, yet it still happens regularly in India

(Commerce, 2012)

• Similarities arise in our culture when we consider Inuit Canadians and their traditional practice of infanticide.

India, located in South Asia, has a large, fast growing population. According to the United Nations, India has a population of 1.2 Billion, compared to Canada's roughly 33 million and its about half the size. it's clear to see the growing population crises.

What are the similarities and differences

between India and Canada

(Saxon, 2013, p. 88).

Our ethnocentrism's are impossible to control, Yet we knew when we do an academic project that we need to eject our own personal judgement/perceptions.Our judgment did not limit our understanding of Female Infanticide because we didn't let our personal objects inhibit us from doing useful and legitimate research. This is what needs to be done to have success in any anthropological project on any culture.

"Historical consensus of Inuit (Canadian and North Alaskan Eskimos) often contain highly male-biases juvenile sex ratios that have been interpreted as evidence of female infanticide."

(Alden Smith, Abigail smith.1931, p.595)

The culture however, has been assimilated into western tradition for a long while now and does not practice Female infanticide, and is in fact denied by some within the culture.

India Population; 1.23 Billion

Are we judging Female Infanticide?

Originally researching Female Infanticide we thought the practice was extremely inappropriate and we honestly did judge the practice without considering the other culture. Once researching the practice we knew we couldn't interject our own opinions and judge, yet if we were not doing a research project on Female Infanticide and weren't taking extreme caution towards our judgment, we would most likely label it a monstrous act.

Questions

I believe that the tradition is long outdated and is no longer practiced as a religious means but as financial and social means. I value the individual over the group so its hard to overlook the unfairness that is happening in this situation, but at the same time I understand why some woman feel compelled to rid of their female children due to certain circumstances

Sarah's

There are different types of questions in each chapter but each of these questions “represent the fundamental approaches to humans that most anthropologists take in their research. The questions distill cultural anthropology into a memorable, versatile way to look at and think about people".

• "In many cultures, government permitted, if not encouraged, the killing of handicapped or female infants or otherwise unwanted children. In the Greece of 200 B.C., for example, the murder of female infants was so common that among 6,000 families living in Delphi no more than 1 percent had two daughters."

• "When demographic statistics were first collected in the nineteenth century, it was discovered that in "some villages, no girl babies were found at all; in a total of thirty others, there were 343 boys to 54 girls."

• In 1789 the British discovered that the Indians were practicing Infanticide in a clan among the eastern part of utter Pradesh and by 1870 had put into effect a law that prohibited the killing of a female child. These along with other laws and prohibitions helped in evening out the gender ratio, even helping to pay dowerys and although through the early twentieth centuries the gap was fairly even, there has been a significant spike in the number of girls NOT being born. We want to understand what factors are contributing to the increase of female deaths.

Female Infanticide in

Pre-twentieth Century India

(Omohundro, 2007, p. 4)

Temporal Question

For this research we will be collecting information from Documentaries, Journal accounts, books and scholarly articles.

Festive Indian Lanterns.

timeanddate.com

What is our point of view on Female Infanticide?

(Jones, 2013).

Reflexive Question

Not being emerged within the Indian or Chinese cultures which practice Female Infanticide it makes it hard for me to accurately give my point of view. Clearly I am in no position to judge and I also could not possibly fully understand this practice within being a part of this culture. Yet in my personal opinion I do not agree with Female Infanticide even though it is a custom of their specific culture. Coming from my personal culture it is not the norm along with not accepted by anyone in our society. Even though it is a custom of the culture in India and China, with it being illegal and all, how do others not understand that this is murder and it is not right to abort a specific gender?

Jenna's

Option A) To keep the female child means that at some point in her life she will cost the family, she will not be educated and unable to provide and does not bring as much pride as a male birth. Mothers who choose option A, are forced with the possibility of being a burden to their son in law, dying without a savings and instead a depleted net worth, and the overall stigma surrounding the woman who births females, so she faces social ridicule.

Option B) To rid of the female children would mean an insured blood line, financial gain, social acceptance of the mother and of course a caretaker in old age. Woman who give birth to only sons are at an economic advantage over other families and are also believed to be more blessed, which can mean a great deal to some. More sons means someone will be there to care for the farm, local power struggles over rights to land and water will be taken care of and wealth from a bride will also flow straight into the families assets.

this can mean a number of things relative to the woman's opinion;

blogs.ise.ac.uk.com

Economic segregation is a factor when one considers favoring male children. Those in poor rural communities are far less likely to raise female children as opposed to a rich, urban family. Only few families have the wealth to raise females which causes obscured ratios in the male to female population throughout the urban and rural regions. These obscurities contribute to the kidnapping and misplacement of remaining girls across the country and also the importation of females from other, foreign regions.

povertyaction.org

Environmental

We will be rejecting our Ethnocentric Ideas about Indian Culture.

We also have taken caution as to not misrepresent Indian culture and preserve dignity and privacy.

telagrapgh.uk.com

concepttravel.india.com

Female Infanticide can mean different things to everyone. Some agree with the practice and others are devastated by its outcomese. Within the documentary "It's a Girl" you see the reactions of many women and how some were forced into aborting their child even by people they loved and others who have the pregnancy terminated and see it as a functional process.

For some, gender bias to this degree makes sense and is not meant to be a cruel act but as a way to look out for the families needs.

Others feel unnatural preferring one gender over another despite financial circumstances that burden the female.

*Woman who are forced to partake sex selective abortions and female infanticide will often suffer from depression and PTSD

Davidlivemore.com

Traditional Indian spices and bread.

In India a biological and cultural adaptation has occurred due to overpopulation, inequality in economic resources and inflammation to male population.

HUMAN BIOLOGY

What does Female Infanticide mean to the participants?

this caused a transformation to the way people thought about humanity and the traditions Indian people upheld. Economic Segregation also added to the ideas and behaviors the culture held about infanticide and patriarchy.

Adaptations such as infanticide can change quickly and only last as long as the generation does.

Culture

(Sen. 2003.p.1298)

Bio-culture Question

Interpretive Question

Son preference in the last ten years has also become very apparent and has resulted in unproportional sex ratios at birth and under ages. In Tamal Nadu religious and economic benefits of having a son greatly outweigh that of a daughter. Not only do the factors that lead to son preference cause daughters to be unwanted, but female children are disadvantaged and valued less.

(E.Samual, 2002)

"on march 27, 1984 "The Times of India" reported that in Delhi, a bride is burnt to death every twelve hours. The number of dowry deaths has steadily increased in the 80's and 90's."

India has a modified capitalist patriarchy where only men have a fair opportunity to succeed. Dowry traditions, religion and keeping woman uneducated allows for this to continue.

(Miller. 1981)

"Extreme son preference is more prevent in North India than in South and East, and that it is more prevalent among upper castes and classes than lower class and castes."

Social Structure Question

The term “gendercide” was coined

by American feminist Mary Anne Warren

in 1985.

(Griffiths, 2005, p. 302)

It's A Girl Trailers

Female Infanticide is a means that families use to ensure the birth and survival of male children in regards to the families overall prosperity.

Female infanticide is not a new phenomenon.

"it is as old as the few cultures that practice it."

(Jones, 2013).

thecapitalwatch.com

This documentary can be found on Netflix.

Definition of Infanticide in English:

NOUN.

The crime of a mother killing her child within the first year of birth.

Oxford Dictionary

Interview in India

Conclusion

• Although Female Infanticide is still occurring in India, hopefully by raising awareness and having people disagree with the practice will help lower the amount of sex selective infanticide that occurs.

• Hopefully our Intro to Cultural Anthropology class educates others on the practices that occur in different cultures. It will open everybody's eyes to other cultures practices and how societies/cultures function in other parts of the world.

• Keep updated about these things, accurate, up to date articles are always ready and available; http://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/apr/07/the-rising-price-of-love-in-iran