The Worth of a Daughter

On International Daughters’ Day, a look at the plight of daughters in India.

Today is #InternationalDaughtersDay. A day of supreme significance in India, where daughters are cherished as “Lakshmi” and the most significant festival in Bengal celebrates a daughter returning to her father’s home for a visit.

Yes, daughters are cherished in India.

Which is the reason why the average sex ratio at birth is 900 girls to every 1,000 boys, with the number going down to as low as 831 girls per 1,000 boys in Haryana. Even in progressive states like Kerala, there are still more live births of boys than of girls.

Ever noticed how in many families if two daughters are born soon after one another there is a gap of 6 to 7 years before a son is born? Sex determination is illegal in India, so that is obviously a coincidence. We wouldn’t dream of female foeticide would we?

We hear of newborn babies being stuffed into polythen bags and left in garbage dumps. They babies are invariably female, but that must be a coincidence because we cherish our daughters.

A male child is fed better than his sister, and is allowed breast milk longer. When he falls ill, he is likely to receive medical attention earlier than his sister.

Many women do not even count their daugthers when asked how many children they have.

According to a study conducted in 2012, female children aged between 1 and 5 were 75 percent more likely to die than boys.

CRY estimated that of the 12 million females born yearly in India, 1 million will have died within their first year of life.

Children of both genders are admitted to primary school, and the mid-day meal scheme ensures that all children are sent to school regularly.

However, when younger sibling comes along, the girl child often drops out of school to mind the child.

If a family can afford to send one child to a private school, it is the son who is selected, even if the daughter performs better in examinations. She is too precious for parents to risk sending her far from home.

It is the daughter who is responsible for fetching water for the family.

The son is fed better food, but the family admits he is not strong enough to walk a few kilometers everyday and manage to the weight of the pots of water.

Girls consistently outperform boys in school leaving examinations, but in many states, the number of girls actually appearing for the examination is upto 50% less than the number boys appearing for the same examination.

Child trafficking is a major problem in India, and more than 60% of children trafficked are our precious daughters.

Between 20,000 to 70,000 girls are trafficked every year, and sold into sex trade. This is obviously because we cherish our daughters.

The health implications of early marriage and childbirth are well known, yet 27% of girls in India are married before their 18th birthday.

It is our love for our daughters that ensures that 7% are married even before they turn 15.

A third of women in India is a victim of sexual and physical abuse, and most of these women stay in a violent marriage, because their parents do not want their precious daughters to walk out of the abusive relationship.

Daughters in Indian families lack sufficient agency. But that is not because thief family wants to deny them their basic rights. It is because parents care so much for daughters, that they do not want to burden them with additional responsibility.

Soon the married daughter will get pregnant and the cycle will continue.

#InternationalDaughtersDay