Boys vs. girls

When a boy is born, parents think of his education and career. But when a girl child is born, the first concern of the parents is to plan for her marriage in the future. It is sadly, a common notion that the real responsibility of a woman is to take care of the family; to raise kids and that they should not venture into the professional world and leave it to men. In a family of one girl and one boy, even if they are loved equally, the entire financial planning of parents varies for them: education for the boy and marriage for the girl.

A survey by United Nations revealed some shocking numbers which shows that on an average 39,000 child marriages happen in India every day. This is about one child marriage every second. That means one out of two marriages in India are child marriage and our country tops the list with 40% of the world total happening here. Discussing this issue let us first see why this evil practice is prominent in India.

A girl child is not seen as a source of income and so is considered a burden for the family. Giving away daughter as early as possible relieves the burden off the family’s shoulder.

2)    For the lower strata of the society, poverty is a major reason for child marriage which ensures that they have one less person to feed. Many times girls are sold as brides to other families.

3)    In some cases, early marriage ensures security for the girl in places which has high rate of rape and molestation.

The Solution…

“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family “- African Proverb

The only way out of the mess is Education.

We have to realise that to bring change on a large scale mere protests are not enough. We saw what happened after the Nirbhaya incident. Here is a small example of what education can achieve:

The average marriage age for girls rose from to 17 from 14.5 in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra state, just two years after girls were offered a life skills course. The course, run by the Institute for Health Management, Pachod, aims to improve girls’ confidence in influencing decisions about their own lives, including marriage.

If we want to uplift the position of women in the society, rapes and child marriages are not the only things that come on our way. Below is a nice pictorial depiction of crime against women 

We are talking about tougher law and harsher punishments to prevent crime against women. But will that change our mind-set towards women? Can be build a country safe for women by inducing fear within men? Or should we try to teach our kids to respect women? The lawmakers have tried the first approach but as can be seen it has never worked out.

The first step for change is believing in the capability of women. We have popular examples of Kiran Bedi, Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa to support the statement. It’s time to realise that the real place for women is not at home but in the field with men; that raising kids and housekeeping is not their only responsibility and they can form an integral part of the professional world.

Everything starts from home and understanding the power of education.