Set up in 2008 and starting from India, Fight Back, an online youth campaign against gender violence, declared March 8 as International Missing Women’s Day. The missing women refers to female fetuses that are aborted because of their gender. A caption on the website reads, “if your mother had been aborted, where would you be”. (Point taken, though I am likely to be at the same place were it my father who had been aborted either.)

As a pilot project, Fight-Back chose to make Mumbai  a zero female feticide zone. For this, it tied-up with Indian Medical Association (IMA) and approached doctors to take the pledge that they would neither abet sex-determination tests nor abort female fetuses. Starting with a count of 117, Fight-Back has roped in more than 200,000 doctors all over the country. As part of the campaign, Fight Back aims to have a number/email id for citizens to report rogue doctors; Fight-Back and IMA will then follow up on these complaints by monitoring the reported doctors and clinics.

Fight-Back is not just about female feticide but against gender violence of all kind. It is petitioning for tougher rape laws and is educating women about resources available to them such as police help lines, gender laws. ”Our premise is that the idea that you can ‘FIGHT-BACK’ needs to be implanted in people’s heads.” With media and advertising professionals at its helm, the campaign’s attempt to affect the nation’s social fabric by influencing ideas about what is acceptable and what is not, what is in and what is out, who are the ‘real men’ and who are not, what will do and what will not, seems to be a goal within reach.

The person behind the movement is Zubin Driver, creative head of Network 18 group, and who was apalled at the 2008 New Year molestation incident in Juhu by the revellers on the street. Public and police apathy towards the incident drove him to launch the campaign. Since then, it has been gaining support from celebrities, from youth on social networking sites, Facebook and blogs, and from personalities such as Soli Sorabjee who have taken up the cause. Nine members form the core-team and it has more than a thousand followers on Facebook alone.

Check out their website and get informed. In the words of Raghu, MTV producer and a core member, join the movement to make any act of gender violence ‘uncool’.

Otalana village, at a short distance from Samrala in Punjab, has a different and inspiring story about girl child. The girl child is held in high esteem in the village. Before starting a new work, blessings of the girl child or unmarried girl, are sought by all families in the village. “Whenever we wear new clothes , we first touch feet of the girl with clothes”, says Darbara Singh, a village elder. “It is a custom in our village”, he adds.

Khera Dhee Dhiani

At the main entrance of the village, huge ‘darwaja‘ (an arch- shaped gate) has been bult in the memory of a girl, who, it is said, had preferred ending life for her and village’s honour four centuries ago. ‘Khera dhee-dhiani‘ (village of girl) has been inscribed in Punjabi on the front arch of the structure. “Dhee-dhiani in Punjabi is used to give respect to a girl”, says Behari Lal Saddi, a retired teacher and writer of the village.

“Long back our elders constructed 12 such structures in the village. Six of them are intact and others are in a poor shape. We have decided to reconstruct all those again”, says Shamsher Singh, a retired police official of the village. “The main entrance structure had also collapsed but its roof was recently replaced”, adds the police official. “When the main entrance structure was partially rebuilt sometime back, first brick was laid by seven village girls and Prito, who is an old woman now called ’bhua‘ by the entire village”, says Dr Harbans Singh, sarpanch of the village.

All these structures are dedicated to girls. Centuries ago, it is said, Nawab of Sirhind had taken a village girl away with the intention to marry her. However, she refused. Before ending her life, she called her brothers and told them to give a message to all people in the village to hold girls in high esteem. Since them, it has become a tradition to seek blessings of a girl before starting a work. Each year, in the last week of August a festival is held in the village in the memory of that girl. On that day community kitchen of sweets is held.

No marriage party of the village boy leaves for bride’s place without paying obeisance at the memorial raised for the girl at the main entrance of the village.

On female foeticide in the village, Dr Harbans Singh said he had not heard about any case so far in this regard. “Our village appears to be above board in this regard”, he adds. Every village can become Otalana provided an initiative is taken by wise men of the state in this regard.

(Written by Sarbjit Dhaliwal, this story appeared in The Tribune, Aug 6 2008. Photo courtesy: Manoj Mahajan)

Those arrested in  Haryana under the PNDT Act have been gifted with the chance to walk away free, thanks to an oversight by the Haryana government.

The Indian govt passed the PNDT Act (Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) in 1994 to counter female feticide in the country. However, as in the case with all other laws, for PNDT to come into force, the government needed to have the act notified, i.e., published it in the official gazette. The act would have then come into force the day it was notified. However, it now appears that Haryana govt, which should have published the act in 1997, published it only on March 4 this year, meaning that the act was effective only after March 4, 2009. Which, in turn, means that all those arrests that Haryana govt. made under the PNDT Act prior to March 4 can be deemed as illegal.

And that is exactly what those arrested under the PNDT Act have sought to do. As per a TOI report published today, “different courts of the state have been forced to acquit 5 people booked under the act, while 60 other medical practitioners booked under the act the past 12 years are now waiting to walk free”.

Today, a doctor charged with a case of female feticide in the Bhatinda district of Punjab committed suicide at the District Courts complex. More about this here (and here ) …

(Btw, the report in two of the news sources, Times of India and DNA, start with  “a woman doctor charged with …”. What’s the motive in drawing attention to the doctor’s gender? If it were a male doctor, would the media report it as ” a male doctor charged with ….” ?) 

Nanhi Chaan. A movement conceived by Harpal Singh, Chairman Ranbaxy Laboratories, and being spearheaded by Ms. Harsimrat Kaur in Punjab with the support from SGPC.

Ms. Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the wife of Surjit Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Dy. Chief Minister of Punjab and president of SAD party. Sukhbir Singh Badal is the son of Prakash Singh Badal, the current Chief Minister of Punjab. So the movement receives support from the State machinery as well.

Nanhi Chaan has been started as a movement to tackle the twin issues of Environmental damage and Female Feticide in Punjab. Conceptually, the idea holds lot of merit. Two important issues for the society brought together functionally and symbolically. Equate a woman with a tree: nurturing, caring and providing shade. This equivalence leads to another one of girl as a sapling, which leads to the formula, plant both saplings and girls. (Of course, some may question whether the symbolism instead reinforces the traditional gender roles of woman in the caring role. I believe it does but – in this case – in a positive manner. Why? Because a main reason for people wanting to have a son is their belief that sons look after their parents when the latter turn old. Daughters are seen as ‘paraya dhan’, to be ‘given away’ to her in-laws where she is supposed to rightfully belong. . But if daughters too are perceived as trees, strong independent and offering support to their parents, it might help in reducing the preference-differences for sons-daughters.)

Punjab is plagued by both the problems: 1) female feticide leading to low female to male sex ratio, and 2) the Green Revolution leading to environmental damage. Nanhi Chaan aims to bring both these issues on the same platform.

Unfortunately, the various controversies surrounding the Badal family seem to be clouding the Nanhi Chaan movement too: many see it as a political stunt to get coverage for Ms. Harsimrat Kaur who had earlier denied it flatly (”I am not in the fray“).  But it turns out that she is after all contesting the LS seat as a SAD-BJP candidate from Bhatinda in the forthcoming general elections.

The question is, should the fact that she has jumped into politics be held against the Nanhi Chaan movement that she  has helped start and is working for? Much as I do not support the Badal family’s policies (or lack thereof) on the development of Punjab, Nanhi Chaan however seems to be a project that makes lot of common sense.  Full power to it.

Click here for more information on the Nanhi Chaan Project.

An article in the Times published today helps me understand why I may not be the optimistic, ambitious and better-balanced character that I ought to be.  Well, I don’t have a sister and the article reports a study in which psychologists found that “growing up with a sister makes people more optimistic, more ambitious and better balanced”. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

“A study of 571 families comprised of brothers, sisters, a mixture of both and only children found that having a sister in the home led to siblings of either sex scoring more highly on a range of standard tests for good mental health. They were found to be better at coping with setbacks, more highly motivated, had more friends and a better social life than those who grew up with just brothers.

The research was conducted by psychologists at De Montfort University and the University of Ulster and will be presented today at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Brighton.”

At first I wondered whether, with the high incidence of female feticide in Punjab, this report needs a wide coverage  in the newspapers in Punjab. Perhaps it would give another reason for couples to have daughters. But then it made me think that making a case for families to have daughters so that their sons can be ambitious and better-balanced seems to be more insulting to womankind than actually helping them. It is treating people as means and not as ends.

You think I am not being optimistic here? Didn’t I tell you I grew up without a sister?

An interesting article titled “Our War of the Sexes“ posted on Sikhchic.com (and written by I.J Singh & Gurmeet Kaur). On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the article draws attention to the unequal rights/status of women in Sikh society while attempting to balance the focus on rights with that of responsibilities. However, in the article, note the silence on the role/place of Sikh fathers.

1. The authors posit their central question of the article as “what exactly is the place of the mother in a family beyond carrying the fetus for the necessary gestational period? What is the meaning of responsible parenting?”

But this article, akin to several other articles of its kind, is incomplete without addressing the other half of the question “what exactly is the place of the father in a family beyond implanting sperm for the necessary conception? What is the meaning of responsible parenting?”

Members of a society do not operate in a social vacuum. There is a dialectic relationship between men and women, such that each is defining the other. For example, the longings for China-doll and clean-shaven hulks mutually affect, shape and reinforce the tensions in the matrimonial quests of the Sikh youths. Hence the need for discussing the place of Sikh fathers while discussing that of Sikh mothers.

2. The authors lament, “We have diminished and ignored what it means to be a Sikh wife and mother.” But if we study the discourse in our Sikh community about marriage, parenting, raising children, Sikh values, etc., it will show that the discussion of what it means to be a Sikh husband and father is largely missing in this discourse. It appears in an infrequent and scattered format, not as a running theme in the same way as that of Sikh women/wives/mothers.

3. Finally, in the article I sensed an implicit glorification of the significance of women in Jewish faith (esp to determine  one’s Jewishness). It will be an interesting exercise to hear what Jewish women have to say about their experiences.

While it can be argued that it is an article written to commemorate the Women’s Day and to reflect over the state-of-affairs in the Sikh society on gender issues – and therefore the emphasis only on Sikh women – I believe that any such discussion will always be incomplete and unbalanced, however well-intended, if responsibilties of women and men are discussed in an insular fashion.

Tarn Taran (Punjab), Jan 12 (ANI): Ahead of the traditional Lohri festival that is usually celebrated in mid-January, the Kalpana Chawla Pragtisheel Society, a voluntary organisation in Punjab, resolved to dedicate this occasion to a girl child at Tarn Taran town in Punjab. … (continue reading here)

FATEH, an organization towards community building in Punjab and Diaspora communities across the globe, has taken the following initiative to address the issue of female feticide/infanticide in Punjab and the Punjabi community. I am pasting below some information on FATEH’s Advocacy projects that I copied from its website.  Individuals interested in getting involved in this project should directly contact Fateh.

STEMMING FEMALE FOETICIDE/INFANTICIDE
Project Lead | Karamjit Kaur

BACKGROUND

Based on statistics from the Census Bureau of India, we estimate that in Punjab alone, approximately 5 million girls are missing due to the practice of female foeticide. This number continues to increase rapidly. The statistics from the 2001 Census are alarming. In 1991, Punjab had 875 girls for every 1,000 boys. In 2001, there were only 798 girls for every 1,000 boys. What will it be in 2011 if the practice of female foeticide continues at this rate?  Equally surprising are statistics that reveal the practice of female foeticide among first generation Punjabi immigrants to Canada, US and the UK.  it is patently clear the immigrant Punjabis bring the disease of female foeticide with them from Punjab.Â

The practice of foeticide/infanticide is not an isolated problem but rather a symptom of a much larger one: the problem of communities devaluing women.  Attitudes towards women that are rooted deep in the culture and history contribute to problems such as female foeticide and domestic violence.

GOALS

• Target 2-4 Cities (Toronto, DC, Seattle, NJ)
-  Recruit 2 volunteers from each region
-  Provide Training
-  Presentations @ Gurudwaras & Comm. Org.
• Complete resource database
• Draft Project Plan & Budget
• Punjab Trip
-  Begin study of 2-3 rural villages and document results.
-  Conduct workshop with Medical Students
-  Network with local activists, leaders, NGO & government officials
• Write one Grant

A recent news-story reported the developments in the Gambhir case of sex-selective abortion in Ludhiana. As per the report, in July 2008, a team of officials from the Health department raided the premises of Jatinder Ghambhir Hospital on Pakhowal Road in Ludhiana, where a woman was being readied for the abortion of her female fetus. It has been four months since then and the “police are still grappling to gather more evidence against the accused in order to strengthen the case”. [Note: Accused are the husband-wife doctor-owners Mr. & Mrs. Gambhir; it is not clear from the report if the victim too has been accused.]

While the legal arm is still struggling to serve the justice, it seems that the social pressure has certainly made itself felt. Owners of the hospital, Dr. APS Gambhir and Dr. Jatinder Gambhir have changed the name of the hospital from Jatinder Gambhir Hospital to Angat Superspecialty Hospital.

Is this a sign that being identified as a kudimaar carries a threat of social stigma in that society? If we thus interpret it, then it asks for the offenders to be spotlighted more often. Understandably, determining whether an abortion is genuinely sex-selective will not be straightforward and will have to run its course to ensure that legal justice is served. However, social boycott of those businesses (hospitals and ultrasound clinics are businesses) that practice or abet kudimaari will be a good example of free-market retribution.

While I believe that banning sex-selective abortion is not a perfect solution to stop female feticide and that it threatens women’s rights to abortion, I believe that it can give a shot in the arm to other approaches such as education on the issue and empowerment of women.

Note: Jatinder Gambhir hospital has been in news over the last couple of years for other reasons not-so-great. In August 2006, people had packed up the streets outside the hospital protesting the death of a patient due to doctors’ negligence. In another incident, 2 girls were ‘rescued’ from alleged captivation at the hospital where they worked as maids but were not allowed to go outside and did not receive the full wages they were promised.