Being a Girl Child in India is not easy

Being a Girl Child in India is not easy

In India there is custom once new baby arrives in family, all relatives, friends and neighbour will visit to shower blessing to new baby and mother. This scene gets changed if baby is “girl child” they will visit and give sympathy that we pray to God that next time he will give you a baby boy.

Whether the girl child born in poor or rich family they have to pay price of being “girl” from childhood to youth and later after marriage. Most women compensate it by having indebted feeling and thankful for having parents that allow them to speak and study as per their choice or allow them to pursue a career of their choice. They also feel grateful to their parents if they are not forced to do something they do not want to do. We hear women saying that we are so lucky that our parents are not pressurising us to get married or sit a certain way or stand in another or talk in a particular manner.

Why does a woman have to feel ‘lucky’ for not having her personal space invaded upon? Why she must feel blessed to have people support? Is that the standard we are setting now?
All cultured girls in India, no matter what religion they come from, are taught from the childhood by their parents that the house in which they are born is not actually theirs rather they are like guests and one day they need to go to their real home, that is of their husband and in-laws. The girls have to “manage” and “adjust” in their so-called actual homes, no matter what the case is.

After the marriage all girls are expected to change and adapt to the lifestyle of a new family. Whether the girl didn’t even know much about people in new family, have to accept their values. She is expected to change surname in the wedding day itself. As an Indian daughter-in-law, you lose your identity in just a moment’s time and nobody cares about how you feel in that moment. If you don’t do that, you’ll be looked at in a wicked light forever.
Girls are widely regarded as a burden to Indian families who fear the high costs of their weddings and resent spending money on their education only for them later to leave the home to marry.

Many women abort pregnancies when they believe they will deliver a girl, often under pressure from their husbands or in-laws who favour boys.