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INDIA / SEX SELECTION
STORY: INDIA / SEX SELECTION
TRT: 6.07
SOURCE: 21ST CENTURY
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: HINDI / ENGLISH
DATELINE: MARCH APRIL 2009, INDIA
MARCH APRIL 2009, INDIA
1. Wide shot, exterior orphanage
2. Med shot, empty basket
3. Med shot, women approaching basket
4. Close up, woman staring at basket
5. Various shots, children inside orphanage’s nursery
6. Various shots, crowds on streets
7. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Punjabi man 1:
“Everyone says they want a son. My wealth belongs to my son.”
8. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Punjabi man 2:
“Having a couple of girls is okay but on the third one you might want to think about having an abortion.”
9. Various shots, children with their mothers playing in playground
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“The demands for sex-selection is enormous. Everybody, every family has to have a male child in the family.”
11. Various shots, Dr. Rathi inside a car
12. Med shot, Dr. Rathi talking with women
13. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) silhouetted Woman and Dr. Ritu Rathi:
“-I’ve had five abortions. It’s very upsetting. Now my body is exhausted.”
“-Does your husband support you?”
“-My husband is an alcoholic. All he says is ‘I haven’t got a son’, and then he drinks. I had one daughter, then another; then a third, a fourth and then a fifth. If you don’t have a son your heart feels empty.”
14. Various shots, crowd around a man holding baby in arms
15. Various shots, women
16. Wide shot, man riding a bike
17. Various shots, women walking
18. Various shots, Dr. Rathi with children
19. Various shots, wedding flowers being made
20. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Anonymous Woman and Dr. Ritu Rathi:
“-Has anyone asked for your daughter’s hand in marriage?”
“-Yes, but his family said they wanted a car and we couldn’t afford it. The dowry has gone up. This is why poor people kill their daughters, because of the dowry.”
21. Pan left, from ultrasound being performed to monitor
22. Close up, monitor
23. Wide shot, women talking
24. Med shot, baby in mothers arms
25. Various shots, mother and child
26. Various shots, Dr. Rathi performing ultra sound
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“In my outpatients department I get about one or two requests per day. They say that they have already one girl child or two girl child.”
28. Wide shot, interior hospital
29. Med shot, Dr. Radhi attending patient
30. Wide shot, hospital ward
31. Close up, baby
32. Med shot, nursery
33. Various shots, Dr. Sindhu in his office reading
34. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Dr. Sindhu, monitors clinics, Northern India:
“The police can be very bureaucratic; they rarely press charges against doctors, saying there is a lack of evidence. This causes us many problems, we need police verification to bring charges but when we show them the evidence, they say there is not enough.”
35. Various shots, Dr. Rathi with patients
36. SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“I try to be a role model to my patients, I try to make them understand in whatever short time I have with them it can be a girl, it can be a boy, I really feel by my heart that both are equal. They should not discriminate between a 37. Various shots, children in school yard
38. Various shots, women sewing
39. Wide shot, children playing
40. SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Woman:
“We don't want to be dependent on anyone else. So we can do something of our own. We are doing it so we can make our own money and start our own business.”
41. Various shots, street scenes
42. SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“People need education and awareness to let go of their old beliefs. “There is hope that this problem can be overcome but it will of course take time and a lot of work.”
43. Various shots, children in playground
44. Various shots, mother breastfeeding a child
45. Tracking shot, land from bus
46. Med shot, Dr. Rathi inside train
A basket waits outside an orphanage in northern India – so that a parent can approach and leave an unwanted baby without being seen.
The odds are the newborn will be a girl. Inside, baby girls outnumber boys nine to one.
Life may seem to have dealt these orphan girls a tough hand, but in fact, these are the lucky ones – for simply being born.
India’s population is booming, already well past one billion, it’s on its way to overtaking China’s in the next decades, but a gross imbalance is developing between the numbers of boys and girls.
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Punjabi man 2:
“Everyone says they want a son. My wealth belongs to my son.”
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Punjabi man 1:
“Having a couple of girls is okay but on the third one you might want to think about having an abortion.”
As a result of deeply ingrained attitudes like these, in India vast numbers of female foetuses are being aborted every year, a grim reflection of the social and economic disadvantages associated with giving birth to daughters. It’s a phenomenon that has spread to many parts of south and east Asia.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“The demand for sex-selection is enormous. Everybody, every family has to have a male child in the family.”
Dr. Ritu Rathi, a GP from Madhya Pradesh in the north of the country, is an activist who carries out research for India’s public health system. She speaks to women caught in the frontline of this epidemic, including this mother who agreed to talk anonymously.
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Anonymous Woman and Dr. Ritu Rathi:
“-I’ve had five abortions. It’s very upsetting. Now my body is exhausted.”
“-Does your husband support you?”
“-My husband is an alcoholic. All he says is ‘I haven’t got a son’, and then he drinks. I had one daughter, then another; then a third, a fourth and then a fifth. If you don’t have a son your heart feels empty.”
This phenomenon is storing up problems for India’s near future: fewer women of marriageable age will mean fewer couples and the disruption of family life as well as the loss of women’s economic contribution.
On average, around the world, women make up close to 50 percent of the population – but across India, the UN estimates there are now at least 100 boys born for every 90 girls.
And Dr. Rathi has discovered that in some towns in her region the figure can be 100 boys to as few as 40 girls. It’s the legacy of an estimated 10 million sex-selective abortions over a 20-year period.
One of the forces driving this phenomenon is India’s dowry system, which is still rampant despite being made illegal over 40 years ago. Parents with daughters are expected to give money or substantial gifts to the husband’s family.
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Anonymous Woman and Dr. Ritu Rathi:
“-Has anyone asked for your daughter’s hand in marriage?”
“-Yes, but his family said they wanted a car and we couldn’t afford it. The dowry has gone up. This is why poor people kill their daughters, because of the dowry.”
Another critical factor behind the rise in sex-selective abortions is the availability of ultrasound. Dr. Rathi says she frequently has to fend off pressure from parents to tell them if they’re expecting a girl or a boy.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“In my outpatients department I get about one or two requests per day. They say that they have already one girl child or two girl child.”
India’s government has made it illegal for doctors to identify the sex of babies in the womb but there have been very few prosecutions and many doctors succumb to pressure or bribery from parents.
Dr. Rathi spoke with Dr. Sindhu who monitors clinics in his district in Northern India to see if they are complying with the law.
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Dr. Sindhu, monitors clinics, Northern India:
“The police can be very bureaucratic; they rarely press charges against doctors, saying there is a lack of evidence. This causes us many problems, we need police verification to bring charges but when we show them the evidence, they say there is not enough.”
Dr. Rathi believes that changes in the law can only go so far.
SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“I try to be a role model to my patients, I try to make them understand in whatever short time I have with them it can be a girl, it can be a boy, I really feel by my heart that both are equal. They should not discriminate between a girl and a male child.”
To tackle this discrimination the government and aid agencies, including the UN, have launched public awareness campaigns in schools, and in towns and villages. Longer-term, they hope to change the perception of women as economic burdens, through projects like this beauty school.
SOUNDBITE (Hindi) Woman:
“We don't want to be dependent on anyone else. So we can do something of our own. We are doing it so we can make our own money and start our own business.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Ritu Rathi, General Practitioner, Madhya Pradesh:
“People need education and awareness to let go of their old beliefs. “There is hope that this problem can be overcome but it will of course take time and a lot of work.”
As Dr. Rathi and many others acknowledge, millions of India’s daughters will continue to go missing without a deep shift in mindsets – especially among men.
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