Girl child – a nation’s asset, but her life’s at stake
Despite many legislations to protect and empower girls, the ground reality paints a dismal picture. It’s time to recognise that a girl child is an asset and not a liability.
Meeting with the women of a village organisation in Jharkhand was distressing. They had blank expressions on their faces when they talked about their girl children.
It turned out that the children had been taken for domestic work to Delhi, Goa and other big cities. The pay was minimal, though there were some enticements like mobile phones. But on the pretext of doing domestic work, the children had been trafficked and several had disappeared.
The domestic work–trafficking nexus was grave and even mothers were immune to the implications. Through self-help groups (SHGs) and its federations, children were tracked and some were rescued.
The National Girl Child Day is an occasion to remind us of the inadequate attention paid to the country’s future languishing in domestic spheres and maltreated in public spaces often. Anecdotal narratives to build up the rationale of the theme is being elucidated.
Girl children in India – a skewed sex ratio
Such instances as in Jharkhand prove the precarious position of the girl child in India. National Family Health Survey–5 (NFHS-5) reveals that with a skewed sex ratio of 929 per 1,000 male children, we are not even able to save the girl child from perishing.
The concept of being alien, external to the family is reinforced through the patriarchal norms and education has not enabled in elevating us from this thinking.
With a rise in the economic status, dowry pricing has proportionally escalated, devaluing the girl children even more. The poorer communities have tried to keep up with the prosperous trend setters. The very life and existence of the girl child is at stake.
Malnourishment and anaemia among girls
Global Hunger Index Report and NFHS-5 reveal the level of malnourishment and anaemia among girl children and adolescents. NFHS-5 shows that 59% adolescents in the age group of 15 to 19 years are anaemic.
In addition to factors of vulnerability, girl children are subjected to gender norms and groomed to be brides for the marital homes. These norms would include eating last and least, fasting and taboos on various nutritious diet assumed as bringing hormonal changes in the body.
Gender norms impact the health of the child and adolescent, further leading to high infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rate (MMR).
Child marriages
Despite legislations, child marriages continue indiscriminately, taking a severe toll on the child. Child marriages stand at 23.3% in the country as per NFHS-5.
Girl children are sent to government schools which are irregular in functioning and the teachers’ presence is minimal. The school is often reduced to a place for a mid-day meal. With lock-down and lack of online facilities, girl children were pulled into domestic chores and deprived of education.
Anecdotal evidences from community resource persons in State Rural livelihood Missions revealed that the pandemic had led to girl children being pushed out of the education system and being married off early. This further deprives the girl child from wholesome development.
Child sexual abuse
Child abuse and sexual abuse of children impacts their mental health. The identity of a girl child is snuffed out before it blooms. Children are often abused by known people within the family.
Shame and secrecy surround the issue and children are not able to talk about their abusive experiences. Sex education is still a taboo within the educational curriculum.
Child trafficking is a heinous crime and the concerted efforts by departments and the legal system are still ineffective in protecting children. Trafficking of the girl child is 44% of the overall trafficking incidents in 2021 as per National Crime Record Bureau.
Girl child in doldrums despite laws
India is signatory to the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Children. The country has the National Policy for Children.
There are several legislations like Right to Education Act, Child Marriage Restraint Act, Child labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, National Food Security Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Immoral Traffic Prevention Act.
Despite legislations, there exists a huge developmental lag even in the survival, protection and development of the girl child. Issues from sex selective abortions, IMR, MMR, discontinued education, child marriages and trafficking still impact the status of the girl child. The nation’s future is treated as external to the home and the paradigm of development.
Small successes
Girl children from the Kolati community in Maharashtra are performers in the Tamasha theatre traditionally and then trafficked into sex work and red-light areas. With a deplorable existence bereft of childhood and subjected to sexual exploitation, the younger generation struggles to get minimum education.
Deprived of basic citizenship rights, they struggle to access entitlements, identity cards and even ration cards. They are treated with derision in schools due to the lack of a father’s name. They finally end up as drop-outs. They are unable to take up any other livelihoods and only treated as sex workers.
As part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission’s gender operational strategy in Maharashtra, the women were mobilised into self-help groups and helped to access entitlements.
A young girl with a class X education, who aspired to move out of the traditional livelihood, was selected as a community resource person in Umed, Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission.
This triggered tremendous interest in the entire community to join self-help groups and work on their entitlements. They felt that one of their daughters had entered a respectable profession and all the children needed to be mobilised. This paved the way for institution building of women from Kolati community.
The representative lead image shows a young girl in a beach in Kerala (Photo courtesy Roshith, Unsplash)
Seema Bhaskaran is Lead – Inclusion and Equality at Transform Rural India Foundation. She has a postgraduation in social work and a doctorate in child sexual abuse. She serves as a consultant on gender integration and right to education for NRLM and UNICEF among others.
