Female foeticide: Effects on society

Abstract

Women who constitute half a human population have been discriminated, harassed and exploited irrespective of the country to which they belong, unmindful of the religion which they profess and oblivious of the timeframe in which they live. Everywhere women are confronted with many challenges. Crime again women is an issue of national shame. Female foeticide is perhaps one of the worst forms of violence against women where a woman is denied her most basic and fundamental right i.e. “the right to life”. The phenomenon of female foeticide in India is not new, where female embryos or foetuses are selectively eliminated after pre-natal sex determination, thus eliminating girl child even before they are born. As a result of selective abortion, between 40 and 45 million girls and women are missing from the Indian population. In some parts of the country, the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to less than 800/1000. The United Nations has expressed serious concern about the situation. This paper draw attention on female foeticide and its effects on society. Skewed sex ratio, women trafficking, increase in rape and assault and population decline are the serious challenges in front of the Indian society as the consequence of female foeticide.