GENDER VIOLENCE BEFORE BIRTH: THE CASE OF FEMALE FOETICIDE IN INDIA

There were a lot of topics that I could have chosen for my book but the gravity of the situation brought about by female foeticide or the ‘female holocaust’ was too disturbing for me to ignore. This book identifies gender bias against females at the very basic level of survival, before she is even born. Discrimination is reflected in denial of female children’s right to education, health, nutrition, and recreational needs. Female infanticide and selective abortion of female fetuses are worst form of discrimination. During my travel, both domestic and international, I have had the opportunity of interacting with women from diverse social, cultural, religious and economic backgrounds and observed the attitudes of the society towards them and their status in the society and sensed a deterioration in the attitude of the society towards women, through my interactions with the students, their families, the teaching faculty and the community at large.