The plight of Girl Child in India

Plight refers to the difficult and unfortunate situation. The position of a girl-child is not very happy in India. The girls are very often regarded as a liability in our society.

But we should bear in mind that our country has achieved her greatness through contributions from both men and women. Yet, in general, the dignity of women has not been properly maintained in our country.

The contribution of girls and women have been ignored in India since ages. We must admit that the Indian society is basically patriarchal and being dominated by males. It has brought down various kinds of inhuman oppressions like burning of ‘Sati’, child marriage etc. though ages. Though these medieval oppressions have been reduced by the great reformers like Raja Rammohan, Iswarchandra Vidyasagar etc., a major section of the women-folk are still deprived of their due rights of property, proper nutrition, minimum education and freedom.

The girl child of the poor parents now serve as maid-servants in various families. At homes too, parents do not bring up their daughters as they do their sons. The dowry system is another curse in our society. It turns the brides into a saleable commodity like cattle in the market of marriage. In many cases, the young brides are tortured or pushed to suicide or homicide by the husbands and the in-laws so that the grooms can marry anew for a dowry larger scientific invention for killing an unwanted female embryo.

We must remember that men and women are the two wheels of our social carriage. If both these wheels roll rhythmically, our society will move faster and gain better progress and prosperity. What is most needed in our society is the basic change in our attitude towards girl child. We should look upon them not as our burden but assets.