Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The midwives who stopped murdering girls and started saving them
Dowry in India refers to money, valuables, or property that the bride’s
family gives to the groom. It puts a substantial financial burden on the bride’s
family. Even though the giving or taking of dowry has been prohibited by law
since 1961, it continues to be a prevalent issue in Indian society due to
deep-rooted cultural practices. Because of this financial burden, many Indian
parents preferred to have boys over girls. For example, they would pay 1,000
rupees to the midwife for the birth of a boy but pay half if the baby was a
girl. In some cases, parents even told the midwife to kill the baby girl to
avoid future dowry. Interviews with lower caste midwives revealed that each of
them was ordered to kill a dozen or more baby girls during their tenure. This boy
preference customs caused a serious imbalance in the girl-boy ratio with 943
women to every 1,000 men in 2011 and 927 women in 1991. China has a similar
problem but not so much for dowry but for the family line especially during the
single-child policy era.
Read the article and learn what midwives in India were forced to do in
their jobs.
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