Femicide

I learnt a new word the other day-FEMICIDE: the murder of the human female. To my horror this can be: infanticide (the killing of an infant), the murder of a little girl under five, the killing of a schoolgirl, the killing of a teenager or the killing of a woman and all because of their female sex. But there is more to this and that is female FETICIDE the abortion of a fetus for no other reason other than the unborn child is female. Can humanity steep any lower than femicide?

The forced abortions of female fetuses is another example of technology being used not for the good of humanity, in this case the ultra sound, but for evil purpose. Feticide occurs in many countries and bad as it is, the killing or neglect of female babies to the point of death is, in my opinion, barbaric.

After the disgusting rape and murder of the Indian medical student at the end of 2012 there has been much in the press about the rights of Indian women and it was then that I came across the work of  Rita Banerji  founder of the 50 Million Missing Campaign. — from this I learn that honor killings ,’witch’ killings, and dowry murders are yet other examples of the brutality met out to women. In three generations it is estimated that 50 million females are missing from India’s population.

My internet research however has shown that femicide is not just a problem in the Indian subcontinent, but China, Vietnam, Latin America and many other countries.

Why has this come about? It seems the desire for a male child is as old as life itself. Boys become men who can labour on the land, can fight in wars and families do not have to pay dowries for husbands. The desire for smaller families and in particular the one child policy in some countries, has skewed the sex ratio to the extent there are now millions of young men who will never find a lifetime partner and have families of their own. This will only increase the violence against women. Organised crime is involved in: bride trafficking, kidnapping of girls and trafficking them around countries and between countries for the sex industry.

Soroptimists around the world have been fighting to reduce violence against women for many, many years; it’s evident there is still much to do.

World leaders need to deal with this demographic nightmare scenario quickly or unrest will surely follow.  Those of us who are aware of the problem , because many are not, need to talk about it among our friends, our colleagues …. tell the world, until something is done to put an end to these shameful practices.

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