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Daughter’s day as the name suggests, is a day to celebrate the presence of daughters in our life. How sweet! Though not necessarily does it show that without this day we wouldn’t be loving our daughters or won’t be happy to have them in our life. But it is just an awareness campaign for those who practice female foeticide and infanticide. It is celebrated on different days in different countries. In India it is celebrated on last Sunday of September. In many developing countries, including India, having daughters is considered to be a taboo.
Foeticide means aborting the girl in mother’s womb and Infanticide means killing a girl child after birth.
Though foeticide and infanticide has been criminalised in India but it still persists and lot of such cases go unreported as generally the whole family is involved due to old redundant rituals. At one point of time in some villages in Haryana, a state in north India, there came a time when boys couldn’t be married off to girls, as no girl was left in the village because of female foeticide and infanticide. This illegal practice gave birth to another evil practice of buying girl from other states and getting her married to 3-4 boys at a time to save money.
Ironically the same state has given number of girl champions in sports. Girls like Geeta Phogat, Babita Phogat, Savita Poonia, Rutu Rani in various sports like Wrestling, Weightlifting, Cricket to name a few have done proud and proved those very people wrong who thought of girl child as a burden.
I feel the problem doesn’t end just by preventing foeticide and infanticide. We have to see that after somehow if a girl with her strong will power manages to survive she should be given proper care, love and equal opportunities like her other male siblings in the family. We have to educate her, make her strong so that she is not exploited. She is not killed because of dowry( this is another social evil which prevails in India).
There was a time when in the households a girl would not be given nutritious food as compared to her brothers. She was not given chance to study because it was believed why to waste money on a girl child as she is somebody’s else’s property, people though that ultimately she would be bearing children and taking care of her husband’s house after she gets married.
How sad and pathetic that in a country where girls/women are worshipped as goddess, saving a girls and her identity has become such an issue that we have to remind ourselves by celebrating it on one day.
Nonetheless if by celebrating it one day we can spread awareness then I feel there is no harm in such celebrations.
She should be heard, because she has a voice
She should be given opportunities, because it is her right
She should be understood, because she has feelings
She should be valued, well, why not, she is precious.
She should be given a good life because mere surviving is not what we want for her. Even a small insect can survive in pathetic conditions.
They deserve a life and that too a good one! They deserve our love! Because we don’t want to celebrate it just one day. We want to celebrate every day with every daughter!
Keep on celebrating,
Keep on spreading awareness,
Keep on making our future secure by securing our daughters!