Discrimination against girls in India

Discrimination against girls in India has several sociological impacts. Debates surrounding the issue question the role of female children and seek to define their human rights, especially with the nearly universal consensus on the need for gender equality.
Gender discrimination
Female foeticide and infant mortality
Gender based discrimination against female children is pervasive across the world. It is seen in all the strata of society and manifests in various forms. As per the literature, female child has been treated inferior to male child and this is deeply engraved in the mind of the female child. Some argue that due to this inferior treatment the females fail to understand their rights. This is more predominant in India as well as other lesser developed countries. Sex selection of the child before birth and neglect of the female child after birth, in childhood and, during the teenage years has outnumbered males to females in India and also in countries like Bangladesh and South Korea. and 1076 women per 1000 men in Europe, but there are only 927 women per 1000 men in India. These numbers tell us quite a harsh story about neglect and mistreatment of the female child in India. Women have a biological advantage over men for longevity and survival, yet there are more men than women. The figures above support that gender discrimination of female child is a basic facility area. Though the demographic characteristics do not show much or in some cases, anti-female bias, there is always a woman who receives a small piece of the pie.
Educational and health inequality
There are two main inequalities as pointed out by Amartya Sen: educational inequality and health inequality. These are the indicators of a woman's status of welfare. In India irrespective of the caste, creed, religion and social status, the overall status of a woman is lower than men and therefore a male child is preferred over a female child. A male child is considered a blessing and his birth is celebrated as opposed to a female child where her birth is not celebrated and is considered more of a burden.
As per the data available, there seems to be gender disparity depending on the location, as the Northern states (particularly Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) seem to be more biased than the Southern states. The sharpest decline for the age group of zero to six years is observed in the Northern States, particularly in Punjab (793 females per 1000 males) and Haryana (820 females per 1000 males). These new figures point out that the use of new technology contributes to the gender composition. Furthermore, the availability of and access to new technology provides new ways for parents to achieve such goals of sex determination before birth. Despite progress in advancing gender equity from a legal standpoint, in practice many women and female children still lack opportunities, and support for the socio-economic advancement. Historically, the inclusion of young girls and women in education has helped challenge gender stereotypes and discrimination. This suggests that providing space for young girls to develop leadership skills, through education and healthy living is important. This can shape attitudes towards women's capabilities as leaders and decision makers especially in conventionally male domains and male dominated cultures. Because of the sex preference of male children in India, female children are deemed of resources in the areas of health and education.
Impact on women's health
In Western nations women typically live about six years longer than men,
Because of some culturally assigned duties, many girls miss out on the chance to improve their overall health. Miller calls this as an extended infanticide, since life sustaining necessities like food, nutrition and health care are denied to the female child. Female children are given less food, both in quality and quantity, and therefore are undernourished compared to male children. This in turn leads to health issues like anemia and intrauterine growth restriction during pregnancy.
Education
Experts often argue that women's education is the key to reducing discrimination against girls. However, female literacy rate has risen from 15 to 54%, even as the juvenile sex ratio has fallen. Some studies have shown that educated mothers are far more "efficient" in discriminating against their daughters than uneducated mothers. Other studies have shown that though higher levels of maternal education decreases infant mortality for both boys and girls, the effect is larger for girls. Thus, higher levels of maternal education decrease gender differentials in child mortality. On the other hand, there is also evidence that maternal education at the district and household levels is weakly associated with increases in female survival. At a macro level, regions with high female literacy states—Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa—have shown less discrimination towards girls. However, in the past 20 years, high female literacy has not stopped Delhi, Gujarat, and Rajasthan from showing increased discrimination against girls.
The female child in India is often deprived from her right of an education. The number of girls dropping out of school far exceeds the boys because girls are expected to help at home, either with household work like washing and cooking or with taking care of younger siblings. Since girls spend more time performing domestic duties and this increases the gap between female and male equality in rural parts of India, it perpetuates the myth that education is of no help to the girl and her primary job will be to look after the household work, get married early, have children and then raise them.
Employment
Women in India seem to work more than men in India, but it isn't exactly paid work. India ranks 127th on the gender inequality index and 108th on the global gender gap index according to The Asia Foundation. Women's literacy and education enrollment rates have increased over time, but labor force rates have decreased instead of increasing. According to The Asia Foundation, many women are able to get an education, but the idea of women working is still culturally hard to accept. According to the New York Times, another reason is that many men refuse to allow their daughters, wives and daughters-in-law to leave the village for training, therefore many women who get educated are unable to join the labor force. Many jobs are male dominated networks, and that is a barrier for women to be able to get a high-paid job. Since these male dominated jobs are almost impossible for women they often end up in lower-paid and less-responsible positions than what their abilities would allow them. The Huffington Post found that many women in rural areas are burdened with responsibilities like taking care of the family, running of the home, therefore the only convenient job is farming related jobs.

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