I Want All Daughters To Smile, Be Happy & Be Given The Right To Live

This week my 11-year-old daughter won two medals in sports and was, obviously, elated and excited. She was motivated and wanted to win more medals, do a lot more in life. I and my husband were happy to see her happy and wished that she stays happy and motivated, always.

The very next day I read the disheartening news of the dismal gender ratio down South and in Rajasthan. In the last 10 years, the boy-girl ratio had skewed even further. Are daughters so unwanted? Technology advancement and medical malpractices have made it “easier” for people to “get rid” of the “unwanted daughters.” There are states where the dowry practice is rampant. Instead of eliminating the dowry practice, people find it easier to eliminate the daughters!

Instead of eliminating the dowry practice, people find it easier to eliminate the daughters!

Daughters form 50% of the population. If the gender ratio keeps on skewing like this, one day it will be only one girl per 100 boys! Everyone wants their progeny to grow, do they forget it’s the women who give birth? Do they forget it’s the women who nurture? Even if they don’t procreate or nurture, who has given the authority to parents to snatch the basic right of existence from these girls?

Most Indians want sons for their selfish interests. The sons are their future caretakers, providers, source of income in the form of dowry! Such parents only see their children as profit and loss; sons are profit and daughters loss. They are not fit to be parents because parents love their children, irrespective of the gender, unconditionally. We don’t bring our kids on this planet to see what “benefit” we can get out of them.

The sons are their future caretakers, providers, source of income in the form of dowry! Such parents only see their children as profit and loss; sons are profit and daughters loss.

Do you think only the illiterate, or the poor kill the unborn girl child? Unfortunately, it’s the “educated and affluent” class who indulge in this malpractice more. People who call themselves elite, educated, forward thinkers are the biggest hypocrites. Don’t we see even the educated people lamenting the birth of daughters or practising gender discrimination?

I look at my daughter, her friends, all the other little girls around who are bubbling with life, enthusiasm, dreams, ambition and think what kind of people are those who don’t want the existence of such beautiful lovely creation of God? These are the very people who worship the Goddesses, call themselves God-fearing, are animal lovers but as per those very people, the unborn girl children are simply a liability, unwanted, worth eliminating.

I look at my daughter, her friends, all the other little girls around who are bubbling with life, enthusiasm, dreams, ambition and think what kind of people are those who don’t want the existence of such beautiful lovely creation of God?

We just had our Republic Day where for the first time in history where Lt. Bhavana Kasturi led an all-men contingent of the Indian Army, Captain Shikha Surabhi became the first woman in the Army’s Daredevil Squad, All Women’s Assam Rifles made history, Mary Kom became No. 1 boxer, and so, so many other examples where women have proven their mettle and shown the world that there’s nothing that they can’t do or achieve.

So many daughters, I know take care of their parents, married and unmarried both. So many daughters, given a chance, have soared great heights. The mentality needs to change big time! Parents need to get out of the “dowry and marriage” mode for their daughters.

We don’t bring our kids on this planet to see what “benefit” we can get out of them.

People lament “Nothing will change, these are our customs.” If one doesn’t try, these ridiculous customs will never change, and the unborn girl children have to bear the brunt.

Just like my daughter, I want all the daughters to smile, be happy and be given the right to live.

Ritwika Roy Mutsuddi, is a social media expert by profession and a blogger by passion. The views expressed are the author’s own.