The Miracle of Life

Today Gloria spent the day in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department.  The day was fantastic - I not only saw a lot of pathology, but saw even more cultural differences.  Many of these differences, are those that I have noticed before, coming from an Indian background.  

I thought I'd focus on female foeticide for today.  It was evident that the majority of women attending the clinic, wanted a male child.  In India, it is illegal for the ultrasonographer to relay the sex of the foetus to the parents.  Having watched Amir Khan's Satyamev Jayate, I knew this already.  Today, I saw the importance of this.  There was not a single woman who walked through the door, that did not want a baby boy!  The doctor had to fill in an extensive form for every ultrasound she performed, to say that she had not divulged the sex of the baby.  

Female foeticide is a matter close to my heart.  Having delivered babies myself and watched my sister/nieces grow up, I know that children - no matter what gender - are miracles of life.  We are all just souls, no matter what sex.  

To those of you who know me personally; you’ll know I have loving parents, a beautiful little sister and four addictive nieces whom I adore.  Those of you know me slightly better will know that my parents have brought up my sister and I, as their sons.  We have the mindset that anything is possible, regardless of gender.  Finally, those of you who know me best will realise that not even my parents are to blame for how opinionated I am and how I’m convinced that I could potentially better a man at anything I turn my hand to.  Women shouldn’t be seen and not heard, men aren’t the only ones who can play sport or fix things.  It is this passion and determination that I hope to pass on to my sister, nieces and women of all ages.  

You may be thinking that in this day and age, it’s incredulous to think that parents would still prefer to have sons over daughters.  I beg to differ.  Even from personal experience I’ve seen this truth.  After the birth of my sister and I, my parents were faced with ‘condolence-like’ comments from a select few, as opposed to congratulations.  I guess I actually have to thank these individuals, as it’s made me the feisty tomboy I am today.  However, the killing of unborn girls (female foeticide) is a sickening reality in some parts of the world, especially India.  Who’s to blame??  One could say the unscrupulous doctors who allow or even promote these procedures, and some may say it is the society, culture and traditions that are so deeply ingrained in Indian heritage that encourages this desire for a male heir. 

The concept of a loving, nurturing, doting mother runs deep in the Indian psyche.  So why is it, that mothers – who were once born daughters – can be so mistreated? 

Amir Khan explored some sad stories of women forced into gender selected foeticide.  One woman from Ahmedabad forcibly underwent numerous abortions, as her husband and in-laws did not want a daughter.  After her eighth abortion, this unfortunate woman could take it no more, and turned to her parents for help when she next fell pregnant.  Luckily, she managed to save this baby’s life and is now blessed with a healthy 8 year old daughter, Kamya.  In fact, many people believe it is the woman who controls the gender of the child.  Science has proven this completely incorrect.  Within each of us, there are millions of cells and each of these cells has a special code (DNA) which is unique to each of us and makes us who we are.  Part of this genetic code defines whether we are a boy or girl.  A father’s sperm, can contain either ‘X’ or ‘Y’ chromosomes, whereas a female egg contains all ‘X’ chromosomes.  Thus, to conceive a boy, a sperm containing a ‘Y’ chromosome must bind to a female egg, and to conceive a girl, a sperm containing an ‘X’ chromosome must bind to a female egg.  So, it is the father who unknowingly determines the gender of the child. 

It has been estimated that between 3 -5 million girls have been killed due to female foeticide.  Contrary to popular belief, this shocking truth occurs in urban, educated sections more than in rural areas.  Census figures in India show that in 2011, for every 1000 boys, there were only 914 girls.  This might not seem a lot, but for every 10,000 boys this is 9140 girls... and for every 1 million girls, this is only 914000!! Disgustingly, some clinics offer ‘package deals’ of sonography combined with abortion, despite this being illegal. 

Female foeticide began to occur in the 1970’s, when there was a huge rise in the population size.  It was believed that if girls were eliminated before birth, people would have fewer children and so this would be a solution to the population problem.  This soon became illegal, but the damage had already been done.  With the development of ultrasound technology, corrupt doctors were able to illegally disclose the sex of a baby for extortionate amounts of money.  But it’s 2012, it’s the age of modern technology, fair-trade and gender equality.  You’d expect that the Indian government and its heads of court would not take such disgusting behaviour lightly.  Wrong.  It’s estimated that 50,000 doctors are involved in fuelling this malpractice, but the Indian Medical Council has not struck off a single doctor so far.  Even the judges in courts are not against it.  This in itself is condoning the killing of these female foetuses. 

So, what is the reality of the situation?  It’s not hard to work out that if you kill all female foetuses, and leaving just male children, you will end up with a surplus of males or indeed bring an end to procreation altogether! In India, there are now huge numbers of unmarried men, over 30 and unable to find life partners, simply because there are not enough girls!  This in itself could lead to horrific circumstances, where women may be traded like commodities as brides.  Crimes against women will only increase. 

It is OUR responsibility to educate each other and to make sure the daughters of India are not denied the right to live.  We may be halfway across the world, but we can do so much.  Educating midwives and doctors etc is only half the battle.  More drastic action needs to be taken to persuade the courts to take these cases seriously and to reprimand and punish anyone involved in these heinous acts.  And no, this is isn’t just a problem in India.  Did you know that recently three doctors in this country were struck off for this very reason?

Our obsession with gender is a shameful facet of archaic and backward thinking, and raises a fundamental question.  What do we want our motherland to be known for

?  Female foeticide or the Taj Mahal (built for a woman, remember!!)  Firstly, I urge each of you to watch the previous and upcoming episodes of this brilliant series.  It is available on YouTube with subtitles, and is suitable for the young and old.  But most of all, to those of you with daughters, I urge you to instil them with the knowledge that they are on par with men, and to those of you with sons, I urge you to instil within them the respect that women deserve.