Female infanticide
[3] In 1871, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Charles Darwin wrote that the practice was commonplace among the aboriginal tribes of Australia.
[4] Female infanticide is also closely linked to a lack of education and high poverty rates, which explains why it is widely prevalent in locations such as India, Pakistan, and West Africa.
The Confucian custom of keeping the male within the family meant that the money spent on a daughter's upbringing along with the dowry would be lost when she married, and as such girls were called "money-losing merchandise".
[15] The dowry system in India is one given reason for female infanticide; over a time period spanning centuries it has become embedded within Indian culture.
A letter from a magistrate who was stationed in the North West of India during this period spoke of the fact that for several hundred years no daughter had ever been raised in the strongholds of the Rajahs of Mynpoorie.
[18] A review of scholarship has shown that the majority of female infanticides in India during the colonial period occurred for the most part in the North West, and that although not all groups carried out this practice, it was indeed widespread.
According to women's rights activist Donna Fernandes, some practices are so deeply embedded within Indian culture it is "almost impossible to do away with them", and she has said that India is undergoing a type of "female genocide".
[20] During British rule, the practice of female infanticide in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu among the Kallars and the Todas was reported.
More recently in June 1986, it was reported by India Today in a cover story Born to Die that female infanticide was still in practice in Usilampatti in southern Tamil Nadu.
[21][22] Despite this practice being punishable according to Islamic law, there have been cases of female infanticide in Pakistan due to a few reasons, for example, children being born out of wedlock and then killed to avoid the stigma of illegitimacy.
According to National Right to Live News, in 2017, only one case was actually reported, but 345 babies were found dead in Pakistan's capital between January 2017 and Spring of 2018.
Many believe that men are the only ones that can provide, and sons are viewed as mandatory in order to kindle the funeral pyre of their late parents and to assist in the soul's salvation.
[29] Non-Government Developmental Organizations (NGDOs) have gender awareness policies designed to prevent female discrimination all over the world.
Building upon gender equality in education and teaching women strategies to cope with their situations will help them grow confidence and want to spread their knowledge and passions with their female children.
[32] As a result of large high female infanticide rates in countries, the population is often skewed with a larger proportion of males.
[33] According to the United Nations, this surplus of men in society coincides with increasing rates of child abuse, domestic violence, and bride trafficking/kidnapping,[34] presenting a grave threat to the security of women in the affected areas.
This also increases the likelihood of women becoming victims of harmful sexually transmitted diseases,[34] which further adversely affects their lives as well as population rates.
[37] According to DCAF the demographic shortfall of women who have died for gender related issues is in the same range as the 191 million estimated dead from all conflicts in the twentieth century.
