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Female Infanticide Worldwide: The Case for Action by the UN Human Rights Council

IN FOCUS , 11 Jul 2016

Asian Centre for Human Rights – TRANSCEND Media Service

Releasing its report, “ Female Infanticide Worldwide ” ( http://www.stopfemaleinfanticide.org/files/Femalefoeticideworldwide.pdf ), the first ever global study on the issue, Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) stated that female infanticide for son preference due to variety of reasons is a worldwide phenomenon with 1.5 million female foetuses being aborted every year.

Analysing the available statistics provided by “CIA World Fact Book” on child sex ratio at birth, ACHR’s study ranked the top countries in the world on skewed sex ratio at birth as follows:

Rank              Name of the country         Sex ratio at birth

No.1               Liechtenstein                       126 males/100 females

No.2               China                                     115 males/100 female

No.3               Armenia                               113 males/100 females

No.4               India                                      112 males/100 females

No.5               Azerbaijan                           111 males/100 females

No.5               Viet Nam                              111 males/100 females

No.6               Albania                                 110 males/ 100 females

No.7               Georgia                                 108 males/100 females

No.8               South Korea                         107 males/100 females

No.8               Tunisia                                  107 males/ 100 females

No.9               Nigeria                                  106 males/ 100 female

No.10             Pakistan                                105 males/100 females

ii. Failure of the laws

The report stated that with the exception of South Korea, no other country has been able to reverse child sex ratio at birth in favour of the girls despite adoption of a number of laws and schemes. Several laws in China namely the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Maternal and Infant Health Care of 1994,  Regulations on Administration of Technical Services for Family Planning of 2001  and the Population and Family Planning Law of the People’s Republic of China of 2002 prohibit sex identification of the foetus and sex selective abortions.  In India, the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 (amended in 2003) prohibits sex-selection or disclosure of the sex of the foetus “by words, signs or in any other manner” and prohibits sale of “any ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of foetus” to persons, laboratories, clinics, etc. not registered under the Act. In 2002, Nepal amended the Country Code (Muluki Ain) to allow abortion on medical grounds but prohibited sex selective abortions.  The Population Ordinance (2006) and Prime Minister Decree (2006) of Viet Nam prohibit all practices of antenatal foetal sex diagnosis and sex selection. A number of countries such as Armenia and Azerbaijan have been debating legal measures to ban sex selective abortions.

“These measures of the governments have not been fully successful because of the easy access to ultrasonography and weak law enforcement. In China, ultrasound for pre-natal determination of sex can be done for as low as US$3 while entire ultrasound-plus-abortion package is available for about US$150 in India.” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights.

iii. Reproductive tourism and celebrities promoting sex selection through new technologies

The report highlighted ‘reproductive tourism’ for the purposes of sex selection through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and other new technologies such as Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening (PGS), and sperm-sorting as the next challenge to combat female infanticide. In Thailand where sex selection is not illegal, the Chinese, Indians, and the Eastern Europeans account for over 70-80% of the tourists visiting for purpose of reproduction and over 80% of PGD practices are undertaken for the purpose of sex selection and not for any medical purpose.

“Many celebrities from all over the world have been promoting sex selection of the foetuses through these new technologies and it has domino effects in societies having son preference”- further stated Mr Chakma.

iv. Calls for UN action

“The growing surplus of men has dire consequences for the human race, among others, for causing trafficking of girls/women in the areas having shortage of women and trafficked women facing violence and discrimination.”- further stated Mr Chakma.

Lamenting that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) fail to specifically refer to sex selective abortion as one of the harmful practices against women, Asian Centre for Human Rights described female infanticide as the worst form of gender discrimination and urged the UN Human Rights Council to review and discuss the impact of existing strategies and initiatives to address female infanticide and make effective recommendations and programme of actions to eliminate female infanticide and foeticide.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 11 Jul 2016.

Anticopyright : Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Female Infanticide Worldwide: The Case for Action by the UN Human Rights Council , is included. Thank you.

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4 Responses to “Female Infanticide Worldwide: The Case for Action by the UN Human Rights Council”

So sad, that boys are still preferred!! Why Liechtenstein-do they want more bankers?!!!

Liechtenstein was the last European nation to allow women to vote, so prenatal selection might indeed be going on here.

I would add that about 105 male births to 100 female is natural, because Y sperm are lighter and travel faster, but where postnatal care of girls equals that given to boys, greater mortality among the latter causes the ratio to even out by young adulthood.

Dear rosemerry,

Tiny Liechtenstein (population 37’468) may easily be the victim of a statistical artefact here.

3 other countries seem to suffer from the known preference for male cannon fodder in wartime.

Yours Werner T. Meyer

In Italy 115 male and 109 female. (in 2015 51.8151 male and 490270 female).

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‘The more we change, the more we remain the same’: female feticide continues unabated in India

Sudip bhattacharya, amarjeet singh.

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Correspondence to Dr Sudip Bhattacharya, [email protected]

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Case Report

Accepted 2017 Oct 10; Collection date 2017.

In North India, preference for sons has been blamed for repeated incidents of female feticide, despite the legislation in the form of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 2002. We describe how a team of local private doctors offer package deals to pregnant women and their families in rural areas. The fetal sex is determined at night using a portable ultrasonography machine.

If the fetus is a girl, an immediate induced abortion is offered in the clients’ home. If complications arise, women are advised to attend hospital. Such a patient visited us with a history of bleeding per vagina following incomplete induced abortion. This case study highlights the fact that female feticide continues to occur in India.

Keywords: global health, healthcare improvement and patient safety, medical education, medical management, abortion

Introduction

A preference for sons is reported in many regions of the world. Estimates s uggest that feticide and infanticide, including newborn neglect and abandonment, have resulted in over 100 million missing women w orldwide. China and India are thought to be responsible for 80 million missing women. 1 Female feticide has created gender gaps among the 0–19 years age group in many countries including India (12 618 000), China (25 112 000), Pakistan (206 000), Bangladesh (416 000), South Korea (336 000), Vietnam (139 000), Azerbaijan (111 000), Georgia (24 000) and Armenia (35 000). 2

It is estimated that 100 000 sex-selective abortions are performed in India every year. 3

Manu Sm riti—‘Her father guards her in her childhood; her husband guards her in her youth; and her sons guard her in her old age. A woman is not fit to act on her own’.

Tulsidas—‘Dhol, gawar, shudra, pashu, nari, ye sab tadan ke adhikari’. ( ‘A nimals, illiterates, lower castes and women should be subjected to beating’. In other words, women were compared with animals.)

Several Dharmashastras (law books) and Shlokas (‘hymns’) in Hindu mythology refer to the restricted role of women in society. 4

During the last millennium, further declines in women’s status were seen as a result of Indian people wanted to protect women from Muslim invaders.

Child marriage was common with the aim of protecting young girls. Widows’ remarriage was taboo in some communities. Many prevailing social and cultural norms reflected the low status of women in society, including ‘purdah’, the screening of women from men or strangers by means of veils; ‘jauhar’, the mass self-immolation by women among the Rajputs of Rajasthan to avoid capture, enslavement and rape by invaders when facing certain defeat during a war and ‘sati’, whereby a widow threw herself onto her husband’s funeral pyre. 4 5

South Asian culture remains largely gender stratified, characterised by patrilineal descent, patrilocal residence, inheritance and succession practices that exclude women. The patriarch has authority over family members. 6

In India, there is considerable ethnographical evidence of regional differences in the situation of women, and female powerlessness is much more acute in North India than in South India. 7 The excessive mortality of females in India is ascribed to the prevailing norms within parts of Indian culture, whereby preference is given to sons, and daughters are discriminated against. Male children are considered to be in the interest of the lineage and family continuity, whereas daughters are regarded as more transitory members. 8 9

Sons are also perceived to be a greater source of support to parents compared with daughters. A woman’s position in her in-laws’ home is low unless she produces at least one son. 10

In North India, sex differentials in child mortality are greater than elsewhere. This is due to the extent to which women are marginalised in this region. 11 When a North Indian daughter marries and leaves the household, her ability to contribute to her natal household is virtually nil. The flow of resources is unidirectional from the woman’s father’s household to her husband’s household (initially as dowry at marriage). This flow continues throughout her life, resulting in significant and mutually reinforcing incentives for parents to value sons more than daughters. 11

Since 1991, 80% of districts in India have recorded a declining sex ratio, with most severe rates seen in the state of Punjab. 12

Various means are used to beget a male child including serial pregnancies until a son is born, preconceptional sex selection techniques and postconceptional intake of sex selection Ayurvedic drugs followed by sex-selective abortions. During the preindustrial era, female infanticide was the most common method used. 13 Thus, though the means have changed, societal gender discrimination against girls continues. 13 14

The first author (SB), a male doctor, was working in a subcentre as a resident doctor of the Community Medicine, School of Public Health, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Research (India). One day, a 25-year-old woman attended with a 24-hour history of vaginal bleeding. The bleeding was associated with palpitations, fever and pain in the lower abdomen. The patient was accompanied by her neighbour and two daughters. A history was taken by the author. Further details were recorded by a public health nurse. The patient was registered as an antenatal case in our outpatient department (OPD). Her case record revealed a gestation of 22 weeks. She had taken folic acid regularly. All laboratory investigations were normal. There was no history of any complications. Her two previous child births were full-term vaginal institutional deliveries. There was no history of chronic illness, hospitalisation or surgery.

When the nurse enquired about details of the bleeding, the patient explained that she already had two daughters and that the family did not want any more girls. Two days earlier, the patient’s in-laws had consulted a local doctor who agreed to see the patient. The local doctor assured them that he would induce an abortion if ultrasound confirmed a female fetus. The in-laws agreed to pay the required amount for the abortion services. The doctor came on the stipulated date and time accompanied by an ultrasonologist. He initiated the abortion procedure after confirming the female sex of the fetus. The procedure lasted for 2 hours. Before leaving, the doctor told the family members that if any problem occurred, they should immediately call him. One hour later, the patient started bleeding. They dialled the doctor’s phone number, but he could not be reached. The following day, the family attended our OPD with symptoms of incomplete abortion.

The patient’s in-laws told us that a team of local private doctors with portable ultrasonography (USG) machine and Medical Termination of Pregnancy kits come to their area on request. They arrive in the evening to clients’ homes as they know their activity is illegal. The mobile team offer a package deal. First, a USG-based sex determination test costing Rs 2500 (£ 30; US$ 39) is conducted. If a female fetus is detected, they offer an immediate induced abortion, for which they charge an additional Rs 15 000 (£182; US$234). On used, initiating the abortion procedure, the team leave, without waiting for the abortion process to complete. For any complications arising, clients are advised to attend hospital with a complaint of vaginal bleeding to avoid punishment under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act, 2002. 15

On examination, the patient was conscious and well-oriented. She had a high temperature with a rapid pulse rate. She was hypotensive. Her tongue was dry. There was no pallor. Her abdomen was concave in shape with no undue enlargement of the uterus. Striae were present. There were no scar marks. Owing to pain, deep palpation was not done. Inspection of the genital area revealed blood clots at the vaginal orifice. Vaginal examination by speculum was not done due to fear of excessive bleeding (it is better done in the operating theatre with arrangements for blood transfusion).

The patient was diagnosed as having bleeding per vaginum due to retained products of conception subsequent to incomplete induced abortion. Oral rehydration salt and antibiotics were prescribed as the first-line treatment. The patient required intravenous fluids and an ultrasound of the pelvis. For expert opinion, she was referred to the local civil hospital where our diagnosis was confirmed by the on duty gynaecologist.

Global health problem list

Health and social impact on the woman.

This case reveals the suffering and risks to safety and health experienced by women subjected to female feticide. Women bear not only the physical medical risks of undergoing abortion but are also under tremendous psychological pressure.

Reproductive morbidity may also develop after abortion in the form of uterine prolapse, secondary infertility and other complications, and at worst, it can cause maternal death.

There are also significant social implications as a woman forced to undergo female feticide experiences loss of control over her own body and loss of decision-making power over her own reproductive life.

A preference for sons is the main driver of female feticide

In India, whether it was in Vedic or modern era, negative attitudes towards female babies remain. This is particularly true for central and northern parts of India. People want a son at any cost, and for this, they are willing to have female fetuses aborted. 4

Role of legislation

Legislation has played an important role in changing attitudes, behaviours and practices towards female feticide in India. However, the complexity of this issue must be acknowledged. More stringent laws are required with a clear process of implementation. The enactment of legislation alone cannot address the problem of female feticide, as evidenced by the rise in illicit induced abortions, with serious implications for women’s safety following the enforcement of the PC-PNDT Act.

New strategies are needed

Newer strategies such as geographical positioning system-based tracking of USG machines and more stringent laws may help in the future as a short-term measure. In the long run, much work is required to improve the status of women in society and promote women’s empowerment.

Global health problem analysis

This case provides evidence of discrimination against women in Indian society. The problem of female feticide has its origins in the 1950s when the Indian government promoted population control via the National Family Planning Programme (NFPP). 16 Before then, the average family had five to seven children, and most families had at least one son. By 1970s, as per the NFPP two children norm, people in India reduced their family size to two to three children in accordance with the government’s stipulations. It seems that this change in family structure and size created demand to exercise some choice regarding the sex of children in their small families. Given that the probability of having a son was significantly reduced in the new, smaller family structure, people resorted to sex determination technology in pregnancy including amniocentesis and USG machines. 16

Societal perspectives on the status of women in patriarchal India are very different from those in more egalitarian, Western settings. Medical technologies such as USG machines were designed for the early detection of various conditions. Yet in India and other countries, these instruments were misused for sex determination and female feticide. 17

Along with rapid urbanisation came the concept of the nuclear family. A family consisting of husband and wife living away from their parents with their one or two children became the norm. In a family, if the first child is a girl, the couple tries to get a male baby at any cost, including the use of selective abortions or sex-selecting drugs. 13

The problem of sex selection and female feticide requires a multifaceted response. Legislation is required, but legislation alone is insufficient.

Indian legislation has played a notable role in bringing about improvement in the role and status of women. The severe disabilities from which Indian women suffered at the beginning of the 19th century were numerous and drastic and have been gradually removed through laws and successive amendments. The PNDT Act 1994 is one such example. The PNDT Act 1994 banned the detection of sex of the fetus. It was listed as a useful means to curb female feticide. However, it was amended in 2002 to become the PC-PNDT Act. This brought preconceptional sex selection techniques into its fold, which was necessary as people started using preconceptional sex selection methods to avoid punishment under the PNDT Act 1994. 18

Besides India, many other countries have attempted to address the issue of sex-selective abortion. In Canada, for example, a resolution was proposed to condemn sex-selective pregnancy termination. 19 In Arizona, USA sex-selective and race-selective abortion is prohibited. 20 The issue of promulgation of a law on sex-selective abortion is still unresolved in the UK. 21 In 2005, sex-selective abortion was made illegal in China. 22

In India, despite various measures undertaken, the declining sex ratio continues to be a concern. Haryana, in north India, has one of the lowest sex ratios: 879 women per 1000 men in comparison to the national figure of 933 women per 1000 men. 12

To address this problem, raids were conducted on USG clinics. Doctors indulging in sex selection and female feticide were arrested. In response, and to avoid arrest, illicit modes of conducting USGs began. Sex selection tests in USG machine-equipped vans stationed at the people’s doorsteps were offered. 23 Following raids on such vans also, USG tests began to be offered from mobile vans (USG on the go). Our case study illustrates that, in order to avoid punishment under the PC-PNDT Act, a newer strategy of sex determination test and female feticide by a mobile team with portable USG machines has been devised.

Why this case study is important?

Our case study highlights the important and widely prevalent practice of female feticide in northern India.

In spite of legislation, people are devising newer strategies for female feticide (via a mobile van, in this case, to avoid punishment) to meet societal demands to beget a male child at any cost.

Female feticide is double tragedy for women. First, she has to bear loss of a fetus. Second, the process compromises her health as the procedure is done in an illegitimate and unsafe manner.

Along with legislations such as the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, empowerment and skill development of women are also necessary in order to bring an end to female feticide.

Patient’s perspective.

Mothers’ verbatim response

‘If we don’t produce at least one male child, we will be neglected and isolated from society.’

‘We are considered as a machine of reproduction.’

‘We have also emotions. We do feel concerned about killing our daughters in our womb. But, we have no other choice.’

Learning points.

Female feticide is still widespread in northern part of India.

Strategies adopted by private doctors for fetal sex determination and female feticide in response to people’s demand for female feticide are rapidly changing.

Short-term measures such as punitive actions on the private doctors for fetal sex determination and female feticide will not help in the long run.

Since implementation of laws depends much on the social attitudes, legislation, in itself, cannot bring about social change.

Long-term measures to uplift the status of women in society are needed.

Twitter: @Sudip12041981

Contributors: SB treated the patient and wrote the manuscript. AS edited the manuscript.

Competing interests: None declared.

Patient consent: Obtained.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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Female infanticide in india: why eliminating this evil against women still matters in 2021.

It’s 2021, and why are we talking about female infanticide? Does it even happen anymore? You might have asked yourself this question before you clicked on this story, but the fact is, it might not happen blatantly around you but female infanticide still does occur in India. The chilling findings of a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the State of World Population Report 2020, confirms this. The report states that India accounts for around 46 million of the world’s 142 million women missing at birth in the last 50 years. 

The UN agency describes “missing females” or missing women at birth as those who are missing from the population at a given date due to the cumulative effect of prenatal and postnatal sex selection. The theory of “missing females” is based on the works of Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen’s 1992 hypothesis that 37 million women are “missing” in India. Sen’s hypothesis indicated that the number of women who could have been expected to be alive today would have been higher if the girl child received equal healthcare, medicine and nutrition as the boy child.

According to the UNFPA report, India has the highest rate of excess female deaths at the rate of 13.5 per 1,000 female births—which suggests that the deaths of one in nine girls below the age of five years are directly attributable to postnatal sex selection. Yes, this means that girls who are born are then killed or disposed of. What’s worse, India and China together account for almost 90 to 95 per cent of missing female births every year, indicating that even though clinics and hospitals clearly state that prenatal sex selection or determination is illegal, it does happen in our country.

This, believe it or not, is the harsh reality of the world we live in. For a nation which has been free for well over 70 years, the fact that its girl child still faces this basic struggle for survival is utterly shameful. Forget giving her an education or prospects, we have not been able to safeguard her mere right to live. And why is that, and what can we do to change this? Let’s find out.

The Redundant Notion That She’s A Burden In a recent exclusive interview with Her Circle, Padma Shri Gulabo Sapera —who was buried alive on the day that she was born, and found alive five hours later by her mother and aunt—highlights how female infanticide used to be an acceptable practice in her community. Women, even in this day and age, are still seen as burdens to the family, and this fact is supported beyond Gulabo’s community too. In a patriarchal setup, women’s bodies are seen as repositories of familial honour and shame, which is why she often ends up with more moral and societal responsibilities than men do. Additionally, though it is banned in India, dowry at the time of marriage is still practised, and orthodox families may think of having too many girls as a monetary burden later in life. 

Add to this the fact that property and wealth inheritance laws still tend to favour sons more than daughters, and women are seen as a population that has to be taken care of. Given that women perform unpaid services like cooking, childcare, cleaning, caregiving, and housekeeping, the economic aspect is especially skewed against women. But the fact that cannot be denied today is that this notion that a girl child is an economic burden does not stand, especially if the same child is equipped with education and given prospects of employment in the formal sector. Recognising the unpaid labour that women invariably perform across all strata of Indian society can also help mitigate the idea that she is a burden.

The Things Her Mother Goes Through Female infanticide does not always happen because of sex selection before or after birth. There are other factors that must also be taken into account here, primarily where the rights of the mother are concerned. UN Women, in a case study published in 2014 showed that women who face domestic abuse are at a higher risk of miscarriages. The nutritional aspect is also vital here, because if a pregnant woman is abused (mentally or physically) the risk that she is nutritionally deficient is high, and her baby may also be at risk of stillbirth and other health issues. The National Commission for Women (NCW) reveals that cases of domestic violence rose sharply from 2,960 in 2019 to 5,297 in 2020—and these are just the number of women who filed complaints. There are no estimates available for the exact number of women who face such abuse, and if or how many children they lose due to it. A 2008 study in the journal PLOS One also suggests that birth registrations in India are still ridden with loopholes, which is why many female infanticide cases in the first few days after birth are easily passed off as stillbirths—as would have been the case with Gulabo Sapera. 

There is also the mental health of the mother which needs to be taken into consideration. Perinatal depression (depression that occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth, also known as prenatal and postpartum depression) can also lead to a woman feeling helpless after giving birth to a daughter. Without appropriate mental health support at this critical juncture, can a woman be empowered enough to stop the infanticide of her girl child? Sexual assault, rape and unwanted pregnancies are also scenarios where women are victims, and may or may not be able to give birth to children who survive. It is therefore crucial that the healthcare system—including the mental healthcare system—does not give up on women, and empowers them to live safely and birth daughters safely.

The Poverty Aspect Of Infanticide While it would be wrong to assume that female infanticide does not occur in wealthy families in India, there is an intrinsic link between intergenerational poverty and female infanticide which cannot be denied. A 2020 study by the World Economic Forum found that some 220 million Indians live below the poverty line, especially in rural India. Poverty is not only endemic in India, but when it coexists with lack of education, low access to healthcare and prevalence of patriarchal bias, son preference and female infanticide naturally result. As mentioned before, the risk of shame, dowry expenditure, and the notion that women aren’t as big earners as sons can grow up to be, are some of the main reasons why infanticide occurs in this demographic. Further, with nutrition a major problem area for the poverty-ridden rural population, the survival of girls is jeopardised even more.

How To Change This Trend? There is a lot that needs to be done to eradicate female infanticide in India, primarily because it’s an intersectional issue. There may be some laws or policies that have been put in place, but they have loopholes. For example—and it’s a critical one—a study published by Wiley Online Library in 2019 reveals that Theban on sex selection in India is “a ban on the use of technology for sex selection for nonmedical purposes. The ban is aimed at the medical profession, not the parents: doctors, not parents, are the ones who face sanctions if it is violated.” This makes the ban on sex selection—which was brought about in 1994 with the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, and amended in 2002 with the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act—is basically moot because parents with a son bias can still go for sex-selective abortions. The 2019 Wiley study says this is the primary reason why there are still approximately 500,000 female foetuses which are selectively aborted annually.

Clearly, a one-dimensional solution is not suited to this situation. On the one hand, we need strict policies and laws that punish female infanticide. On the other, we need to disseminate awareness about women’s rights as well as the policies in place which protect them. Campaigning against female infanticide needs to be more rigorous, and it shouldn’t just be government-led but community-led: that is the only way to bring about real and long-lasting change. The healthcare system, especially the side which deals with maternity, needs to register pregnancies, births and infant mortality, and report violations more stringently too. At the other end of the spectrum, empowering young women of today can also help mitigate the notion that the girl child is a burden. Placing more value on the role women play in the economy and getting her the wealth and property inheritance rights she deserves can also help eliminate son bias. A cohesive, multi-pronged approach is what is needed to eliminate female infanticide, and every single Indian—even you—can contribute to this effort by simply empowering women around you in any way you can.

Dying to live: the gender dimension of child mortality in India

Date: Monday, 3 March 2014

“He used to beat me up without any reason. It was an everyday affair. I had multiple miscarriages,” recounts Bhuri Bibi with a forlorn look in her eyes. She now works as a casual labourer and lives with her 4-year-old daughter in her maternal village in the Sehore district of the province of Madhya Pradesh, in central India.

“Six years ago, my husband threw me out, as he did not want to stay with me anymore,” she says. “I lost three children. They were stillborn. He accused me of not being able to procreate healthy babies and deserted me.”

Bhuri Bibi’s story is not uncommon. According to the 2005-2006 National Family Health Survey , in India, about 37 per cent of ever married women had experienced violence at the hands of their spouse.

Domestic violence during pregnancy is a major contributor to child mortality, a predicament Bhuri Bibi’s all too familiar with. Research shows that in these instances there is an increased likelihood of premature labour, lower infant birth weight and stillbirths. Millennium Development Goal 4 calls for a reduction in child mortality, aiming to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

To be launched on 10 March 2014, a new UN Women report, Hearts & Minds: Women of India Speak , sheds light on this important issue by sharing the stories of Bhuri Bibi and other women.

Shunned: A mother and daughter’s struggle to survive

“When he finally abandoned me, I was already expecting again, although I was not aware of it then. I was staying at my mother’s home when my daughter was born and this time the baby survived, maybe because I was not beaten and tortured during pregnancy,” Bhuri Bibi reflects, in the report. 

Although her husband and family shunned her and her newborn daughter, she was able to find the support and care she so desperately needed in her mother. But just as she thought her life was finally turning around, her mother passed away, leaving Bhuri Bibi to live in a house with her brothers. They tried to force her to leave by inflicting more violence upon her. After her persistent refusal to leave the house, the brothers agreed to give Bhuri Bibi and her daughter a small space in the home.

“I take my daughter with me wherever I go, as I don’t trust anyone… I’ll never let her out of my sight,” she says. “I really hope that I get money to build a small dwelling for her and myself to live peacefully.”  

As victims of domestic violence, Bhuri Bibi and her daughter are now particularly vulnerable to economic and employment-related disadvantages. Their future is unclear, but Bhuri Bibi’s maternal protective instinct will go far. Her experiences with domestic violence and its impact on child mortality have hit her hard, but she still believes in a happy future for her and her daughter one day.

Reducing child mortality in India

India has a Gender Inequality Index ranking of 132 out of 148 countries in 2013, according to UNDP’s Human Development Report . Its child sex ratio (the number of females per thousand males from 0 to 6 years of age) has declined rapidly in recent years – meaning fewer girls are being born. According to the 2011 Census , from 927 girls for every 1000 boys in 2001, the ratio has dropped to 919 girls in 2011.

In India, as well as in several other countries of Asia, female infanticide and son preference based on deeply rooted patriarchal cultural and religious beliefs has been pervasive for centuries. According to a study conducted by the International Centre for Research on Women and UNFPA’s Asia Pacific Regional Office , “women experience intense societal and familial pressure to produce a son and failure to do so often carries the threat and consequences of violence or abandonment in their marriage.” The study says the advent of prenatal diagnostic technology since the mid-eighties has also made it easier to practice pre-natal sex selection and subsequent sex-selective abortions.

“In India, UN Women tackles domestic violence and son preference by working with elected women representatives and other women in villages across five states. We encourage them to speak of their concerns and increase their participation in local decision-making through panchayats (village councils) and gram sabhas (public village meetings),” says Rebecca Reichmann Tavares, Representative of UN Women’s Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Between 2011-2013, UN Women trained 800 female motivators to encourage other women to participate in special meetings meant only for women or mahila sabhas, where they spoke about domestic violence as well as other social issues such as alcoholism, dowry, sex selection and child marriage. Over the same period, 6 million women participated in 1,172 Gram Sabhas, 5,163 ward sabhas and 3,179 mahila sabhas (women’s meetings at different local levels).

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