The Great Shame! India Has 2.1 Crore ‘Unwanted’ Girls Because Indian Parents Still Want Sons

Many couples in India keep on having children until they have a boy.

PTI

New Delhi:  The desire among parents in India to have sons instead of daughters has created 21 million "unwanted" girls, a recent government report estimates. This highly shameful fact was presented in the Economic Survey 2017-18,  tabled in Parliament on Monday. Other things that this report highlighted:

• Many couples in India keep on having children until they have a boy.
• 63 million women were "missing" from India's population because the preference for sons led to to sex-selective abortions and more care was given to boys.
• Calling this the “son meta-preference,” the survey has found that while an average Indian family prefers to have two children, there are instances where families have more than five children if the last child is not a male.
• The survey cautioned that on several indicators, notably employment, use of reversible contraception, and son preference, India has some distance to traverse despite the country’s economic progress.
• The percentage of working women has declined over time from 36% being employed in 2005-06 to 24% of women employed in 2015-16, pointed out the Survey.
• As per the Survey, nearly 47% of women do not use any contraception, and of those who do, less than a third use female-controlled reversible contraception.
• North-Eastern states have been consistently outperforming others on the development parameters related to women, while hinterland states are lagging behind.

However, the report acknowledged that Government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ and ‘Sukanya Samridhi Yojana’ schemes, and mandatory maternity leave rules are all steps in the right direction, pointing out that measures such as increasing maternity leave will offer support to women in the workforce. Meanwhile, many Twitter users reacted to the disheartening news

21 million girls in India are ‘unwanted’ for the families seek a male child. The country is still far from being an equal society with equal opportunities for our women. If this doesn’t sadden, what will? #EconomicSurvey2018

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) January 30, 2018

For the first time, #EconomicSurvey18 reveals that our nation has 2.1 crore "unwanted" girls in 0-25 age group coz parents don't stop having kids till they get son! Pathetic????????

— Manisha Kadyan (@manisha_kadyan) January 30, 2018

India estimates 21 million of its girls are 'unwanted' This is just about the most stinging rebuttal to so-called innate gender and the denial of oppression based on biological sex there is. https://t.co/bHuA37rLGw — Monica Larkin (@mrsovary) January 29, 2018

India has 63 million ‘missing’ women and 21 million unwanted girls. This is 8 times more than the total female population of Saudi Arabia. Still Hindu liberals are more worried about Saudi Arabia and Iran than they are about India. https://t.co/4rHNZpiwEB

— Brumby (@brumbyOz) January 29, 2018

And people wonder why we 'still' need feminism... @WomenForIndy @WFIAngus BBC News - India estimates 21 million of its girls are 'unwanted' https://t.co/1ubabxnNSa — JoolsBellSNP ???? (@JoolsBell55) January 30, 2018