The Forsaken Daughters of a Developing World Femicide, Development and Women's Health in India

Rishma Johal, Amit Johal

Abstract: Development processes have had an adverse impact on Indian women in correlation with increasing instances of femicide. The term, femicide, refers to all three cases of female feticide, infanticide, and the death of a girl child based on neglect. Various areas of India were historically infamous for committing female infanticide, but this had begun to decrease over time. Nonetheless, several forms of development have ensured that sex-selection technologies are accessible to a larger proportion of the population, which has led to a gender imbalance. These technologies have also produced mixed results for womens health. The birth ratio of males heavily outnumbers that of females in many regions of India. On the other hand, several development initiatives have increased female literacy and independence, yet this progress appears to be increasing the abortion of female fetuses. Thus, we argue that femicide remains a problem in India because development processes and medical advancements have failed to alter social perceptions about women and overlooked the social, economic, and legal context that continues to marginalize women. This paper will first examine the socio-economic factors that have historically subordinated women and demonstrate how they continue to have an influence today. Second, it will describe how development has diversely affected Indian women and their health based on class. Finally, this paper will explain why legal policies discouraging femicide have failed. Overall, it provides an analysis of the implications that efforts to control womens bodies and reproduction have had on womens health in India.

Keywords: Development, womens health, femicide, infanticide, feticide, new reproductive technologies