'I'm so sorry to inform you, but it's a girl.'
And then, a series of tears, anger and humiliation follow. Being an Indian, and the only daughter of my parents, they are often asked by people in front of me if they ever thought about this as a huge mistake?
'Don't you ever feel like having a son would have been better?'
'What support do you expect from her? She's a girl. She's just a liability on you.'
'Only a girl? Oh my, you should have tried for a son dear.'
Ever since I was a kid, I never understood why someone would say things like that? If I had a brother the same age group as mine, I could have any day performed as good as him academically. I could have gotten into an esteemed college as him. I could have caught a job opportunity as well as his. And, I could have taken care of my parents as much as him.
But it's only me, and I know for sure that once I'm settled with a decent job I would love to give my parents the most comfortable life, as an effort to pay them back for every thing they've done for me.
I am one unique individual. I have my own personality. I have my own traits. I have my own way of seeing things. If I would have been brutally killed inside my mother's womb just because I was a girl, all the things that I am today would be missing. My parents would never know that they could have a daughter like me. My friends would never know they could have a friend like me. And, so on.
Killing a baby girl is equivalent to killing an individual with her own unique personality, traits and talents.
Imagine if Lata Mangeshkar's parents decided to abort her because she was a girl? Or imagine if Mother Teresa was strangled to death right after she was born and buried in some farm behind her house? What if Kiran Bedi was killed as a baby girl too? Helen Keller? Florence Nightingale? Marie Curie? Kalpana Chawla? Sunita Williams?
Can you imagine a world that did not witness the contributions by all these women because they were killed before they could even open their eyes?
Why? Why do we feel like women are a burden to the society? Why are women forced to abort theur babies in China? Why are women tortured and abandoned in Indian households for giving birth to baby girls consecutively?
The sex ratio in India according to 2011 survey is 940 girls for every 1000 boys. This might seem less disturbing but imagine the same ration in lakhs? crores? 9,40,000 women for 10,00,000 men? 9,40,00,000 women for 1,00,00,000 men?
Something is extremely wrong in the mindsets of people here. We need to understand the fact that even the mother who is pressured into giving birth to a male child is herself a woman, she has the ability to create a new life, respect her. This ability is not a power but a responsibility.
I hope I'm able to get my message across clearly. Please, please, spread the word to help stop Gendercide!
