On A Soapbox

As each day passes, I become more and more of a feminist.

I read an article in Glamour Magazine that says that in India, right now, some parts of the country are actually experiencing a shortage of women because of a process known as "gender selection." Basically, what happens is that when a woman is far enough along for an ultra-sound, she goes in to the doctor, finds out what she is having, and if it is a boy, the neighborhood throws a party. If it's a girl, she has an abortion. Signs around the country say things like "Spend 500 rupees now, save 50,000 rupees later," pointing out the cost differences between an abortion now and a dowry later. Since abortion became legal in India, millions of baby girls have been aborted. And when they are not aborted, they are often left in what Glamour called "extended infanticide," where they are left without nutrition, health care or other basic necessities of life (including love and affection)until their mothers are relieved to see them die.

Possibly the saddest part beyond the murder of countless women is the fact that the solution to the female shortage is NOT for women to have their daughters or for the country to realize that the value of women goes beyond childbirth. No, the shortage of woman is countered with bride purchasing. BRIDE PURCHASING. And the whole problem begins again. If the purchased brides produce only daughters, then the brides are re-sold. Some of them are re-sold after giving birth to sons as well.

Why does this happen? How did it come to be that women have such a low place in society? Have such a place that their own mothers feel compelled to kill them before they are born, just because they are girls.

Seriously, what is going on here? How did we get to the point where women are having abortions just so they can have sons?

One man in the article proudly proclaimed, "My wife aborted 15 daughters, but I have 6 sons."

That makes me want to cry. That makes me want to scream. That makes me want to get on my feet and do something.