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INDIA / FEMALE FOETICIDE PREVENTION
STORY: INDIA / FEMALE FOETICIDE PREVENTION
TRT: 3:11
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / MARATHI / NATS
DATELINE: MARCH AND NOVEMBER 2020, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
MARCH AND NOVEMBER 2020, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
1. Aerial shot, Maharashtra, India
2. Close up, Woman at girl naming ceremony banging thali
3. Wide shot, women celebrating at naming ceremony
4. Rack focus, woman banging thali to baby girl – daughter of Rupaki Pandurand Pawar
5. SOUNDBITE (Marathi) Rupaki Pandurand Pawar, mother:
“I am Rupali Pandurand Pawar, I stay in Velgaon, Karjat. I am 30 years old. In my second delivery. I have delivered a girl child. I was very happy, and my family members are also very happy. They were not disappointed, so they did not harass me. In our village, the gram sabha (village-level government) celebrated the birth of my girl.”
6. Wide shot, ceremony being preformed
7. Med shot, women clapping at ceremony.
8. Med shot, baby in the centre
9. Tracking, woman giving out sugar
10. Aerial shot, Maharashtra, India
11. Various shots, children in nursery
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Shraddha Joshi, Managing Director, Women’s Development Corporation, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
“Ceremonies like girl child celebrations are very important for us, they help us in many ways. One they prevent sex selected gender bias determination, sex-ratio increases, issues related to girls, we get positive respondents from those. Perception of the whole society changes, a girl was considered to be a burden till now, now she becomes very celebrated.”
13. Various shots, women at Tejaswini project praying
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Shraddha Joshi, Managing Director, Women’s Development Corporation, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
“Government from their side have issued many legal instructions, laws were made. One was punitive actions, the other thing was giving positive incentives, and the activities in which community gets involved. These kind of activities - they complement each other, and they help finally achieve the goal of gender equality and in real sense women empowerment.”
15. Various shots, baby receiving coconuts and sweets and gifts
16. SOUNDBITE (Marathi) Rupaki Pandurand Pawar, mother:
“I feel when any girl child takes birth, everybody around shall feel happy. 2:40 we conduct celebration programs of the girl child because we want that, she should be respected and treated equally, 2:45 so her status should be equal in society, it will be good for the society.”
17. Med shot, Rupali with her baby daughter
In India, the sound of women banging their thalis tells everyone there’s something to celebrate. The birth of a baby is a special occasion, but what’s unusual about this ceremony, is it’s to welcome a baby girl.
SOUNDBITE (Marathi) Rupaki Pandurand Pawar, mother:
"I am Rupali Pandurand Pawar, I stay in Velgaon, Karjat. I am 30 years old. In my second delivery, I gave birth to a girl child. I was very happy, and my family members are also very happy. They were not disappointed, so they did not harass me. In our village, the gram sabha (village-level government) celebrated the birth of my girl.”
Traditionally ceremonies like these welcome baby boys, but not baby girls. This event in Maharashtra, has been organised by the Tejaswini project, which was funded by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development or IFAD and the Indian Government. The project has empowered over one million women giving them financial and cultural independence.
Despite laws to ban pre-birth gender selection and address high rates of female foeticide, in many parts of India having a baby girl is still seen as a huge disappointment. This event reinforces the project’s goal to encourage families to treat girls as equals.
SOUNDBITE (English) Shraddha Joshi, Managing Director, Women’s Development Corporation, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
“Ceremonies like girl child celebrations are very important for us, they help us in many ways. One they prevent sex selected gender bias determination, sex-ratio increases, issues related to girls, we get positive respondents from those. Perception of the whole society changes, a girl was considered to be a burden till now, now she becomes very celebrated.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Shraddha Joshi, Managing Director, Women’s Development Corporation, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
“Government from their side have issued many legal instructions, laws were made. One was punitive actions, the other thing was giving positive incentives, and the activities in which community gets involved. These kind of activities - they complement each other, and they help finally achieve the goal of gender equality and in real sense women empowerment.”
A combined effort by community projects like this one and the government laws has seen a marked improvement in the number of girls born in the area. According to the National Health Survey, in 2005 it was just 867 to every 1000 males, now it is 924, and slightly higher than the national average of 919.
As Rupali receives gifts of sweets and coconuts from friends in the village, she is pleased that her daughter is now receiving the same treatment as a son.
SOUNDBITE (Marathi) Rupaki Pandurand Pawar, mother:
“I feel when any girl child takes birth, everybody around shall feel happy. 2:40 we conduct celebration programs of the girl child because we want that, she should be respected and treated equally, 2:45 so her status should be equal in society, it will be good for the society.”
The project hopes this trend will continue and that even more baby girls will be born and not aborted and live to see ceremonies like this in the future.
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