MODERN MEDICAL PRACTICES IN INDIA: A CONTINUITY OF THE PAST
GENDER INEQUALITY
“By
a young girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done
independent,
even in her own house”.
“Her father
protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth, and her sons
protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.” Manu, 200 BC
Kalidash
Brahma
Throughout
the history of humankind in India with some exception to the early Vedic
period, women are not treated equally with their male counterparts. They were
being treated inferior to men and as such marginalized in every sphere of their
life. They were bind by diverse of social norms like Sati System, dowry, dedication of girl child in the river Ganges,
restriction on widow remarriage etc. Several social reform movements were
launched in India in order to eradicate those social evils in the society which
brought slight changes in the orthodoxy of the society. But it appears that the
movement was not complete for many of those issues and practices are still in
existence in the modern India. Moreover, the modern medical practices in India
have added a strong blow to the existing wound. The main objective of the
present paper is to understand the following queries:
1. Whether the various social reform movements launched during the 19th century
against various social evils (particularly gender inequality) were successful?
2. Does
the modern medical practices in India a continuance of the past gender
inequality?
In
doing so, the paper will highlight the symbols of gender inequality in Indian
society and relate it with the modern medical practices.
SATI
SYSTEM:
One of the most serious challenges of Indian
society was the problem of ‘widow immolation’ or ‘Sati’, where Hindu widows
climbed the funeral pyres of their husbands; an ancient tradition, prevalent in
Bengal, Rajasthan and the South Indian kingdom of Vijayanagar. Sati was never a
religious obligation, but a belief. It was believed that by burning herself on
the funeral pyre of her husband widow can remove the sins of her husband. She
was believed to ascend to the heaven
on committing Sati. Strong social pressures of the patriarchal Hindus society on
the widow and the status of widows were also factors which helped the growth of
the sati system.
WIDOW-REMARRIAGE
Restriction
on widow remarriage was another social malady of Hindu society. The status of
widows in India was deplorable that they were not allowed to participate in any
religious and social functions and as such their life was worse than death.
This left them no other option than Sati. Prohibition of widow remarriage was
strictly followed amongst the upper caste Hindu society. Any attempts on the
part of British to make laws to facilitate remarriage of widows were vehemently
opposed by the conservative Hindus. And if I am not wrong, the restrictions on
widow-remarriage still alive in our mentality and our society.
CHILD
MARRIAGE
Then
comes the problem of child marriage. In those days Small kids and in some cases
even ignorant and innocent infants were married by their parent. It was a
custom in the Hindu society. In this regard Gandhiji said, ‘I do not think it (marriage)
meant to me anything more than the
prospect of good clothes to wear, drum beating, marriage processions, rich
dinners and a strange girl to play with’. As a result, they had to face lots of
problems like health, economic, social adjustment and what not.[1]
FEMALE
INFANTICIDE:
A
girl in the family was considered as a burden by parents. Since a girl child
would be going to her husband’s home after her marriage, the parents there is
no need to waste their resources on her upbringing. Besides, the practice of
dowry and the huge wedding expenses caused a lot of hardship to the parents.
These in the long run, led to the practice of killing the girl child in India
particularly in its north and northwestern part. In addition to it, customs
like dedication of girl child into the river Ganges was practiced as a
disguised form of female infanticide. It
was a superstitious belief that by doing so they could have boons from god and
thereby cherished.
POLYGAMY:
Polygamy was practiced in ancient, medieval and
modern India. The practice was prevalent in both Hindu as well as Muslim
society e.g. King Dasarata (Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi) and Akbara. As a
result of this practice women were regarded as a puppet for their (male) physical
thirst or as a living instrument to fulfill their daily needs. They could not
get the due share of being someone’s wife or life partner. Rather, they have to face so many of the
problems like-loneliness, frustration and sometime even mental torture from
senior wives of her husband.
Besides
problems like torture of women by in-lows after husband’s death was also very
much rampant which was also responsible for volunteer sati system. Likewise in
the Muslim society, we find some elements of gender inequality. In the Muslim
society, as mentioned in the Holy Quran, women are not given equal weightage as
a witness. They are given only a half weightage. Here is a reference,
‘O
believer, when you contract a debt one upon another for a stated term, write it
down……And call in two witness, men; or, if they be not men, then one man and
two women, such witness as you approve of, lest one of the two (women) err,
then other will remind in her’( Quran 2: 282 in exegesis).[2] In
other word, women are more prone to error and therefore, needs a second woman
to remind her.[3]
To
be short and precise, women in India were not treated equally with their male
counterparts. They were treated as inferior and subordinate to their male counterparts.
As a result, different customs and superstitious practices were emerged leading
to degradation of the status of women. This ultimately resulted into several
social reform movements by different social organizations like Brahmo Samaj
(1828), Arya Samaj (1875), Rama Krishna Mission (1897), Theosophical Society
(1875) and Mohammeden Literary Society (1863). The prominent leaders of those
organizations were Raja Rammohan Roy, Keshab Chandra Sen (Brahmo Samaj), Swami Dayananda
Saraswathi (Arya Samaj), Mrs. Annie Besant (Theosophical Society), Rama Krishna
Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda (Rama Krishna Mission).
CONSEQUENCES
OF THE REFORM MOVEMENTS
As a
consequence of those movements-
Ø Sati
was first abolished in Calcutta in 1798.
Ø A ban was imposed on sati in 1829 in the
British territories in India.
Ø Hindu
Widows Remarriage Act XV of 1856 was passed.
Ø Child
Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.
Ø In
1795, infanticide was declared to be murder by Bengal Regulation XXI.
Ø Native
Marriage Act of 1872 was passed, which abolished early marriages, made polygamy
an offence, sanctioned widow remarriages and inter-caste marriages.
Ø In
1901, the Government of Baroda passed the Infant Marriage Prevention Act.
However,
development in the field of science and technology particularly the medical
science has left the efforts incomplete. It has become a matter of great
concern for the present human society. ‘Numerous scholars have observed that
the latest advances in modern medical sciences – the tests like Amniocentesis
and Ultra-sonography which were originally designed for detection of congenital
abnormalities of the foetus, are being misused for knowing the sex of the
foetus with the intention of aborting it if it happens to be that of a female’.[4]
These new medical technologies have brought the problems like female foeticide,
sex selective killing, abortions etc which resulted into the decline of female
sex ratio. However, Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques
(Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994 prohibits practice of sex
determination before and after conception. The practice is a punishable offence
with an imprisonment of up to 3 years and fine up to ten thousands which may
extend to five years and with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees
(In case the physician is employed in any Centre where determination of sex is
practiced). In case the physician is a registered medical practitioner his name
may be removed from the register of the state Medical Council for a period of
five years for the first offence and permanently for the subsequent offence. Even
any individual seeking for sex determination for the purposes other than those
specified in subsection (2) of section 4, (of the act) (for the purposes of
detection of any of the following abnormalities, namely: Chromosomal abnormalities, Genetic metabolic
diseases, Haemoglobinopathies, Sex-linked genetic diseases, Congenital
anomalies and any other abnormalities or diseases as may be specified by the
Central Supervisory Board) shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which may extend to three years and with fine which may extend to fifty
thousand rupees for the first offence and for any subsequent offence with
imprisonment which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to
one Lakh rupees. But the trend of abortion case is alarming in India. Robert Johnston in his study
has estimated to 763,126,
129,709, 163,205, 58,528 and 69,501 abortion cases in Indian during the year
2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively[5].
The table given in the following indicates that the female sex ratio is
declining in every decade with some exception to the last two decades. At
present there are 940 female in India against every 1000 male.[6]
However, during the same period India
has experience the lowest the child sex ratio (914) since Independence[7].
It deserves to be a theme of systematic and serious discussion. With 618 female populations against every
1000 male population Daman & Diu stands at the bottom. It is followed by
Dadra & Nagar Haveli with 775 female populations.
TABLE-1: DECADEL SEX RATIO
IN INDIA:
Year
|
Female (per 1000 male)
|
1901
|
972
|
1911
|
964
|
1921
|
955
|
1931
|
950
|
1941
|
945
|
1951
|
946
|
1961
|
941
|
1971
|
930
|
1981
|
934
|
1991
|
927
|
2001
|
933
|
2011
|
940*
|
Source:
Various Census Report of India and Census Report of India, 2011 (Prov.)*
ETHICAL
ISSUES:
Moreover,
the modern medical practices like sex determination, abortion (excluding
exceptional cases), foeticide (particularly female foeticide) etc. leading to
decline of sex ration needs a considerable retrospection. The practice of sex
determination and abortion is directly or indirectly contravening to the
provisions of various National and International Human Rights Conventions. It
is contravening to the provisions of legislation. Besides, it is against our humanity and
ethics as well. However, the supporters of the issue of foeticide and abortion
have considerable success in making abortion a legal right in many developed
nations. They argue that the baby in form up to 14 days cannot possibly be
conscious of their pain and pleasure. Besides, it cannot be understood if the
baby is going to be a male or a female. Therefore, it is not a complete human
and as such can be destroyed.[8]
They also argue that the fetus is totally dependent on mother for its survival
and as such it has no right to life independent of her wish. At the same time
they also argue that the mother should have complete freedom in her body. She
should have the right choose to accept or not accept the baby. But the
opponents argue the practice of abortion with help of following premises.
First
Premise: It is wrong to kill a human being.
Second
Premise: A human foetus is an innocent human being.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it is wrong to kill a human fetus.[9]
They
challenge the argument that fetus has no right to life for it is completely
dependent on her mother. If the right to life is not secured because of being
dependent on other what would be their arguments concerning the life of those
who are dependent on their children because of being old or handicapped.
Perhaps, they will not have reply for this particular question.
Now my question is that shall we wait for that
debate to complete? And then starts working according to the conclusion. Who knows how many generations it will take to
come to the conclusion. For the sake of ourselves and humankind I feel the time
has come to ask ourselves:
Is
it ethically right to kill a life before it’s born?
Is
it ethically right to kill a foetus because it is not fit enough?
Is
it ethically right to destroy a life because the life in form is a female?
Is
it ethically sound to kill a life because it is an unwanted?
Without
any doubt I feel a normal person will say ‘No’. If this is the case, why cannot
we act accordingly? Let us proceed with a promise that we will not encourage
the practice of sex determination, foeticide and abortion which leads to the
problem of declining women population.
******
REFERENCES:
1.
M K Gandhi, ‘The story of my
experiments with truth’ translated by Mahadev Desai, Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014.
2.
Sneh Lata Tandon and Renu Sharma, ‘Female
Foeticide and Infanticide in India: An Analysis of Crimes against Girl
Children’, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol
1 Issue 1 January 2006.
3.
Robert Johnston, India abortions and
live births by state and territory, 1971-2008http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/india/ab-indias.html
4.
Various Census of India including Census
of India, 2011 (Provisional).
End Notes:
[1] M K Gandhi, ‘The
story of my experiments with truth’ translated by Mahadev
Desai, Navajivan
Publishing House, Ahmedabad-380014, p-5.
[2] Quoted
in Mahammad Fadel’s, ‘Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power, and Gender in
Medieval Sunni Legal Thought’, International Journal of Middle East
Studies, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 29, No. 2. (May, 1997), p-187.
[3] Ibid.
[4]
Sneh Lata Tandon and Renu Sharma, ‘Female Foeticide and Infanticide in
India: An Analysis of Crimes against Girl Children’, International
Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences Vol 1 Issue 1 January 2006.
[5]
Robert Johnston, India abortions and live births by
state and territory, 1971-2008http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/india/ab-indias.html
[6] Census of India, 2011
(Provisional).
[7] Ibid.
[8] Peter Singer, ‘Practical
Ethics’, Cambridge University Press, 2010(Reprint), p-137.
[9] Ibid, p-138.
