To save the girl child — invest

In 1990, Amartya Sen observed that the world was short of 100 million women because of excess female mortality in India, China and South Korea. The next year, Ansley Coale put the figure at around 60 million for China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and West Asia and Egypt. And in a more recent 2004 paper by Neelambar Hatti, T.V. Sekher and Mattias Larsen, “Census reports throughout the 20th century have recorded a steady decline in the proportions of female population in India.” In this mass genocide the two prime motives of crime — sex and money — are standing naked before us. This is a rather complicated and layered issue (the high probability of hepatitis B infected parents giving birth to boys, for instance), with as many opinions as there are voices. Taking a limited, money view of things and going beyond the financial-independence paradigm, here are three suggestions:

First, dowry. The giving of gifts to a daughter on her wedding has turned into an industry that would put loan sharks to shame. The gift of love has morphed into a demand bordering on coercion. This has turned daughters into a liability, the reluctant but necessary planning for which begins the day she’s born through regular purchases of gold. A culture cannot change overnight, but this custom needs immediate and stringent enforcement. It is not enough to say that seeking dowry is a crime. Let us see some serious and unrelenting action on punishment, sentences that turn into landmarks.

Second, assets. Today, the assets of a couple belong to the person in whose name they appear. There are many couples who manage their money in a manner that the woman’s salary runs the house while the man’s income creates assets.If there is a divorce, the woman is left with no assets. A small change here, borrowing from Vietnam and modifying it to suit Indian conditions, could help. According to a report by the International Center for Research on Women, “in Vietnam, marriage and family laws were revised in 2001, requiring both the husband’s and wife’s signature on any document registering family assets and land use rights. This significantly changed the former policy where certificates only had space for one signature — typically the husband’s — and women could only claim their rights in the presence of their husband.”

Third, inheritance. The perception, in many affluent business families is that since dowry has been given to the girl child, she has no right over the family property or business, that she has gone to and now belongs to another family. Keeping the family silver within the family is essential. Lineage, the family tree and all its accompanying assets must be preserved. And hence, the focus on transferring the family wealth to the boy. While changes here are coming in — the recent amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, for instance, that gives women a share in property — they are not enough. How about a chunky tax benefit if the money is transferred to the girl? This could lead to benami transactions, of course; these should be treated with severe financial penalties or jail terms.

But there are only so many reforms that society can build. Unless there is a dispute, the woman does not even ask for her share of property for fear of being ostracised by her maternal side, says a lawyer working on women rights. Finally, if the intent of society is suspect, no female foetus can be safe, no girl child can be nurtured, no woman can be empowered. And the masterminds behind Sabhani and Singh will continue to find new victims.