Female Infanticide In India

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have given me a son.”(John Anderson, 1993, p. 6)

Each year thousands of newborn girls are murdered by their mothers
simply because they are female. Some women believe that sacrificing a
daughter guarantees a son in the next pregnancy. Because of the tremendous
preference for sons over daughters many females are abandoned or allowed
to die of starvation. Others cannot afford the dowry that would be demanded
for the girl’s marriage. For other mothers, killing a female infant is
better than letting it grow up in a society of discrimination, poverty,
and sickness. “Indian law bans infanticide and imposes penalties of life
imprisonment or death. However, few cases are brought to trial, especially
in rural areas, and those that do reach the courts seldom result in
conviction.”(Naomi Neft, Ann Levine, 1997, p. 307)

Sociologists and Indian government officials began documenting
sporadic examples of female infanticide 15 years ago. The practice of
killing newborn girls is ...

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