Mumbai Supports Laadli!

Q: ) What do you get when you have the country’s most gender-sensitive and conscious media, along with three incredible women achievers, an 8 yr old acting prodigy and a singing sensation like Usha Uthup?

Answer- A highly successful Awards function!


The National Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2010-11 not only saw its thousand-seater venue completely house-full with an enthusiastic audience, but the event was also graced by the presence of Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Prithviraj Chavan and popular Bollywood Actress Rani Mukerji. UNFPA Representative a.i. India, Mark Derveeuw, was also present as a Special Guest at the award function. The audience applauded the media professionals and agencies who were being awarded for their gender-sensitivity in the news and advertisements they released in the year that went by.


The National and final leg of the Laadli Media Awards took place at Tata Theatre, NCPA on Friday, 8th April 2011 at 6:30 pm. The vivacious Pooja Bedi who was the MC for the evening, had the crowd in splits with the little anecdotes she sprinkled in between the compering throughout the function.


A group of girls from the D.M. Jariwala orphanage performed a mesmerizing inaugural dance for the function choreographed by the Terence Lewis Dance Academy. Thereafter, Afsana Sagiir Ahmed, an 8yr old girl performed a play titled Ek Laadli ki Kahani Uski Zubani and won the hearts of everyone present with her beautiful performance.


Pooja Bedi then called on Chief Guest Rani Mukerji to award veteran photographer Homai Vyarawalla, with The Laadli of the Century Award. Kathak Queen Sitatra Devi was awarded The Laadli Lifetime Achievment Award for the Performing Arts - Kathak by the Chief Minister. Mother of Orphans, Sindhutai Sapkal was awarded The Laadli Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Service and in her speech thereafter she gave beautiful renditions of a few Urdu, Hindi and Marathi couplets. The audience gave a standing ovation to these strong independent women who broke the glass ceilings to pursue their dreams at a time when women did not have a voice of their own.

Singer Usha Uthup gave a power-packed performance. She sang popular songs such as ‘I will Survive’ and ‘Words’ for the Girl Child and the audience cheered and sang along with her.

The entire event was absolutely spectacular and Population First received a phenomenal response from the audience toward the cause of the girl child and the Laadli Campaign. The audience pledged their support to the girl child by signing for the Million Signatures Campaign at the registration desk. We thank everyone who attended the event making it such a grand success. Little drops make an ocean, our little effort in the form of the Laadli Media Awards along with such tremendous support will ensure that one day our media is completely gender-just and responsible.

Here’s to Laadli!! 

Some audience responses-

Mr. Pranesh Mishra- “I greatly enjoyed the Award ceremony. It was really a touching event - extremely inspiring. I would be happy to help your organization in any way I can.”

Mr. Astad Parakh- “ The programme was really touching and I am sure it carried a strong message to all present, as is also witnessed by the news item on the very positive comments by the CM.”

Mr. Kishore Jagtiani- “What we are today is because of our Laadli, otherwise we would not exist. I would like to help the LAADLI program and be a small part of it.



If you would like contribute or help the cause in some way, you could support the Laadli campaign by writing a generous cheque, Volunteering your precious time, sponsoring our events and activities during Ganeshotsav and in colleges in the next academic session and finally organizing meetings, sensitization programmes in your neighbourhoods, communities, and offices.

Thank God She Is Not Alive!

Sex ratio – a term which most people would have now become familiar with considering that the newspapers have been full of the sex ratio figures as revealed by the census. The child sex ratio is falling – that is the number of girls per 1000 boys in the 0-6 age group is decreasing. Now what, may I ask, is surprising about that? We as a society do not value our women so they are always the last to get medical help. And women themselves have been told for centuries that they must put everyone else before themselves so they do not even demand services. They have no economic value assigned to their work so one less or thousands less makes no difference to the GDP. Education too – they are lucky if they get it – even if they do, many end up sacrificing their potential for family or at the feet of the husband’s ego….. the usual refrain!

And there begins the cycle where the woman who has not felt valued by society and learnt not to value herself becomes society’s accomplice in eliminating the girl child. And so begins the downward spiral of the child sex ratio. Technology has made it easy and guilt-free. All you need to do is to find an unscrupulous doctor, get an ultrasound done, understand the unsaid message and decide. You could go a step further – chose the male embryo from the petri-dish. No bloodshed, no guilt, no evidence.

So far so good – but what defies logic is why prosperity and education is not making an impact. My grandmother believed that education would empower her daughters and she braved all opposition to send her daughters to school and university in the 1940s. She was sure that by the time her granddaughter grew up there would be no difference between a son and a daughter. Thank God she is not alive to see this day – how would I have explained this trend to her.

By
Nivedita Sinha

Hardly a surprise!

Census 2011 reports a steep fall in child sex ratio

For the last few days all those working on the issue of falling sex ratio have been waiting with bated breath for the release of the provisional census data. That the child sex ratio (CSR) i.e the number of girls per thousand boys in the 0-6 age group will register a fall was a foregone conclusion but the anxiety was by HOW MUCH? The data is out, the wait is over and we still cannot breathe easy.

The CSR is an important indicator not only because it reflects the pre-birth elimination of girls but also the discrimination against girls once they are born. It is true that more girls die during childhood than boys. Some under enumeration also has to be factored in as many families do not report the presence of girls in the family (Though,let me clarify that it is not a major contributor to the CSR)

At the national level CSR declined from 923 to 914 between the last two censuses. The decline of 13 points from 2001 to 2011 as compared to 18 points between 1991 (945) and 2001(927) may offer some consolation to all those working on the issue. But the fact remains that gender discrimination is continuing to be rampant.

The data shows that the overall percentage of children in the 0-6 age group has reduced by 2.8 %. They constituted 15.9% of the population in 2001 as compared to 13.1% in 2011. This indicates lowering fertility rates- a negative growth rate in this segment of the population. However, it is important to note that if we look at the growth rate among boys and girls which is -2.42 and -3.80, it is clear that girls are not really having a fair chance of survival due to discrimination at birth and during childhood. As we always said, a small family is desired but a son is a must.

What is worrying is that while there has been some improvement in the CSR of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Mizoram and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, in the remaining 27 states and UTs the sex ratios have recorded a decline. This shows that the phenomena of discrimination is no longer limited to a few pockets but is almost assuming epidemic proportions. The SRS data of 2007 on sex ratio at birth highlighted this phenomenon and now census has confirmed it.

This poses new set of challenges to the programme managers and civil society organizations. We cannot remain focused on a few districts or states alone any longer. While it is imperative that all that is possible is done to regulate the illegal practice of sex determination there, it is equally important that we regulate the sale and mushrooming of ultrasound clinics and machines elsewhere. The poor records of machines sold, poor compliance of the PCPNDT Act requirements by the clinics, and dismal performance of authorities in regulating these machines needs to be acknowledged and appropriate administrative mechanisms need to be put in place immediately all over the country. It is no longer a problem of “those” states. It is a problem of every district and state.

I am saddened to note that Maharashtra had a fall of 30 points from 913 to 883 between 2001 and 2011 in CSR. That the political will is lacking is evident from the fact that the State Supervisory Board was constituted recently after almost three years and has shown utter lack of understanding of the issue in its very first meeting. It is demotivating to see the people in power still thinking that Maharashtra is not as bad as others!

The alarm bells are ringing. It’s time for all of us to wake up from our stupor and fight for the girl child.

Barking at the wrong tree!

GOM proposes to regulate use of Abortion Pill to stop sex selective abortions

Twenty one lac illegal sex determination tests and seven lac girls being eliminated through illegal sex determination everyyear and the government feels that there is no need to regulate the clinics. The fact that in spite of our society being a son preferring society, that we did not eliminate girls on such a large scale before the pre-natal diagnostic techniques appeared in the market does not seem to register with them. Though it is apparent to all that there is a definite link between the availability and accessibility of sonography machines and the fall in the sex ratios, the concerned officials continue to deny it and blame it on mindsets and say it is a social problem.

The apathy of the Maharashtra Government to this issue is established by the fact that the State Supervisory Board was not constituted for two and a half years. And when it is formed last week under pressure from NGOs the very first meeting shows the lack of understanding and misdirected focus which deflects from the basic issue of misuse of technology.

As a monitoring and policy directing body it is expected to have members who have the technical knowledge, commitment to upholding the rights of the women and understand the nuances of abortion and sex selective abortions. If we are to go by the news reports it is obvious that the members have not been able to take an informed stand on the issue.
The focus of the recommendations of the State Supervisory Board is on controlling the sale and use of the abortion pill. This is a totally misdirected measure.

Abortion pills are not used by the women going for pre-birth sex selection. The pills are effective only up to 49 days of pregnancy. A woman cannot know the sex of the baby by then. The sex of the baby can be indicated from 12th week onwards and confirmed only after 18th week. So how does monitoring the sale of abortion pill help the cause?

This approach is dangerous as it compromises the right of a woman to safe abortion. Abortion in India is legal if it is in the interest of the well being of the mother and child, in case of rape and contraceptive failure. In a social context where women do not have control over their reproductive and sexual behaviour, abortion helps them get rid of unwanted pregnancies.

In India it is estimated that nearly 11 million abortions take place every year and around 6 million of them are unsafe abortions. Close to 20,000 women die every year due to abortion related complications. Awareness about abortions being legal is poor in India and measures like the proposed one would force many women to go for unsafe abortions by quacks endangering their lives. It would talibanise the society with the pharmacy workers, government officials and other lumpen elements targeting women buying abortion pills. It goes against the principle of confidentiality of MTP act.

Instead, the government should focus on cracking the business of illegal sex determination clinics and lodge legal cases against all clinics flouting the PCPNDT act. It is time that all those who value the rights of the women come forward and lodge their protest against this regressive, ill informed and misdirected move of Government of Maharashtra.

How Safe? How Informed?

Recently, we had organized a workshop on gender discrimination and Pre-birth sex selection in one of the premier colleges of Mumbai. As always the interaction was energetic and the participation enthusiastic.

However, we observed a few disturbing trends. A majority of the students when asked if abortion is illegal in India said "yes". What is bothersome is, the same students expressed their concern about peer pressure to have boy friends because "everybody has one", "it shows that you are desirable" and because "It is cool". The concern did not stop at having a boy friend or not. The girls were very much bothered about pre-marital sex. Should they indulge in it or not, and whether they can say no to demand for physical intimacy from the boy friends were some of the issues which were discussed.

The discussion was followed by a role play where they were asked to portray the current scenario and how they would like to change it. The first role play showed a shy and insecure girl smitten by a very popular macho man of the college, who takes advantage of her attraction for him, gets her to have sex with him and dumps her when she gets pregnant. The girl commits suicide.

The second scenario showed the same girl being advised by a friend about the bad character of the boy and the girl walks out of the relationship hurling abuses.There was no depiction of any assertive communication or negotiation in the two role plays.

Both the role plays depict the extreme situation, which may not be the case in reality. But more importantly, both the role plays showed the inability of the young women to negotiate their sexual rights, whether it is consent to sexual intimacy, use of contraceptives or access to safe abortion. This is scary! Particularly when we juxtapose it against their ignorance about the legal abortion services.

It is clear from the above that there is an immediate and urgent need to involve young women and men in a dialogue on issues related to sexuality and reproductive rights. The question is, are we as parents, teachers and social development workers ready to break the silence around these issues by addressing them head on? Or are we just happy letting them make sense of this chaotic world with its changing perceptions about pre-marital sex and pregnancies and the changing sexual mores?

The need to provide skills to youth to make informed decisions and opt for safe sex practices cannot be ignored. The media, educational institutions and the NGOs need to get working with youth in real earnest asap.

Win and No Win Situation!

It is again that time of the year when parents and students are tensed about the results of the Higher Secondary and Senior Secondary School exams as well as the innumerable entrance exams that the students appear for to gain entry into professional courses. The marks and ranks obtained practically determine the future of the student, unless of course the parents have the capacity to buy management seats. This is also the time when girls reassert their academic supremacy by faring much better than the boys. The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had announced Maharashtra class 12th results. Like in the earlier years, once again girls fared exceptionally well. The passing percentage of girls is 80.48 whereas for Boys it is 73.17. The overall passing percentage of the HSC examination is 76.36%.

It is shocking but not really unexpected to read about an emerging trend in some colleges of Bangalore to hike the cut off marks for girls because they outperform the boys in HSC exams.It is reported that the MES College and National College in Bangalore set the cut-off point for boys at 594 and cut off point for girls at 599.

This is just another manifestation of the societal attitude towards girl's education which makes parents prioritize investments in boy's education over that of the girls. This attitude at one stroke undervalues the achievement of the girls while reinforcing the gender inequities. It is interesting to note that the performance of the girls is trivialized by comments like "girls do not have extra-curricular activities or distractions and only focus on studies and therefore score well in exams". If we take this statement at face value, it raises two questions: why do girls not have opportunities to indulge in extracurricular activities or distractions and why is our education system discriminatory when it comes to promoting sports and outdoor activities for the girls. Not just our schools and colleges even at home girls and boys are not given the same freedom of movement and access to public spaces - parks, play grounds, etc.

Why do we always discount the achievements of women. If a woman succeeds at work place,it is because she uses her charms, if she makes a mark in politics it is because of her family connections and if she does well in studies it is because of
boredom!What about her aspirations, her ambitions and her commitment and hardwork?

It is sad that such attitudes actually make women and girls undervalue their own aspirations and achievements. In a survey conducted by Population First among youth, similar attitudes were expressed. A total of 521 parents and 642 students from all over Mumbai were administered a questionnaire on how they perceive gender roles. However, the attitude that came across was that girl's education or career is secondary to that of the boy's and that her education and career choices should be delimited by thatof her husband's. One fourth of the people interviewed felt that there would be problems in the family if the woman is more educated or earns more than the man. This reflects the unquestioned acceptance of the gender equations at home where men are seen as superior to women. Such attitudes justify and rationalize glass ceilings and should be questioned.

Whose "Dosh" is it anyway!

A few days back my attention was drawn by a friend to a news paper ad on the issue of how the sex of the baby is determined by the X and Y chromosomes. It is common knowledge that a woman who gives birth to a daughter or only daughters is considered "Manhoos" bad luck for the family and is a victim of considerable violence from the family members and snide remarks and sympathy from the community members. We need to change this, we need to communicate to people that sex of the baby is a question of chance and not choice. It is a biological phenomenon where the Y chromosome of a man plays a crucial role in determining the sex of the baby. No amount of prayers, offerings, vrats and visits to holy men can influence it. Violence against the woman is definitely not going to change it.

But what is more important is how do we communicate it to people. The above advertisement and many other communications also say that it is not the "dosh" i.e fault of the woman, as the sex of the baby is determined by the man. Does it mean then that the man is at fault, "doshi"? Are we saying that people should now direct all their anger and frustration against the man. Throw him out of the house, torture him and make him feel inadequate?

More importantly, are we saying that having a daughter IS a "dosh"- a crime, a mistake? What is so criminal about having a daughter?

By using the word "Dosh" in the ad we all are guilty of perpetuating a mindset that looks at daughters as a burden and as a failure. It is the responsibility of all the communication professionals to be conscious of such nuances and work on messages that do not further compound the prejudices.

It is also the responsibility of each one of us, like my friend, to keep our eyes and ears open to such "dosh" in communication and bring it to the notice of the authorities.

At times it may look like we are being too finicky about words. However, remember if we are not conscious of their nuances, we all are at "dosh" for the state of affairs.

COME AND CELEBRATE LAADLI DAY ON 9TH JUNE BY JOINING US AT GATEWAY OF INDIA AT 6 PM, IF YOU ARE IN MUMBAI. YOU CAN ALSO SUPPORT US BY WRITING ON THE ISSUE OF SEX SELECTION OR GIRL CHILD OR MAKING THE GIRLS AND WOMEN IN YOUR FAMILY AND OFFICE FEEL SPECIAL.