It’s a girl, ma’am…..silence

Rajkumari Sharma Tankha

Heard a woman talking so loudly on her handphone in Delhi Metro on a Monday morning. This woman, in her late thirties or early forties, was talking to her friend about someone, may be her sister-in-law. From what I could gather from the forcible evesdropping (she was so loud, I couldn’t help not hearing) it seemed the sister-in-law had delivered her second child, a girl. This woman was not only pitying her s-i-l but also boasting about how she herself has two sons, and is ‘settled for life’, has got ‘prestige’ in the family for having borne only males.

I was the unwilling listener to the whole talk of my co-passenger for I was sitting right next to her. And it left me dejected and depressed, and spoilt my whole day. It has been sometime since I heard the conversation but I still cannot fathom how a woman can think like this.
It is so very sad that even in this time and age a woman’s position in the family depends on whether or not she bears a male child!
But then here I shall not talk about the in-laws or the husbands who only want boys. I am more concerned about the young mothers who have this mindset. Is it not sufficient for a woman that she has delivered a healthy baby? I have often seen women who have not borne boys getting disappointed and depressed and living life in a number of complexes. My question is why?

A baby, a boy or a girl, is a beautiful creation of God. Why compare the two or disrespect one for the other. Tell me ladies, is the baby girl not your flesh and blood? Do you in any way consider yourself a lesser mortal than your husband? If yes, why?? If no, why make the life of your own daughter a hell???

C’mon ladies, I don’t have to tell you about the skewed sex ratios, the importance of girls, the feats a girl can achieve, even the fact that it is girls who take care of their parents in old age rather than boys. I won’t go into the touchy-sticky details of this, but you all know it is a fact. So, why abhor a girl. Give her love and respect and see the magnificent flower she blooms into.

Another thing I would like to say to you is before you start denigrating your baby girl, remember there are scores of people who do not have even a single child of their own; think of those who would go to any length just to have one being of their own flesh and blood.
So people, respect what you have. Consider yourself lucky to have become biological parents and cherish the new life that has come to this world through you.