Abstract
This article examines the cultural reproduction of daughter aversion from a generational perspective by following up 10 girls into adulthood in the district Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Children as much as adults are embedded in the micro-contexts of everyday lives in which gendered practices are reproduced and they are acutely aware of the differential treatment meted out to them. Cultural reproduction of daughter aversion is intergenerational. It manifests differently as girls move through the life course, largely because of the dynamic intersection of relations of gender and age. The article concludes by emphasizing rights-based approaches that would allow girls’ voices to actively inform development policies and programmes to tackle daughter aversion and discrimination.
Abstract
Cet article traite de la reproduction culturelle de l'aversion envers les filles dans une perspective générationnelle, en s’appuyant sur un suivi jusqu'à l’âge adulte d’une cohorte de 10 filles du district de Madurai, dans l’Etat du Tamil Nadu. Les enfants, tout comme les adultes, sont ancrés dans les microcontextes de la vie quotidienne dans laquelle se reproduisent les écarts de pratiques selon le sexe, et ils sont pleinement conscients du traitement différentiel dont ils font l’objet. La reproduction culturelle de l’aversion envers les filles est intergénérationnelle. Pourtant, elle prend des formes différentes au cours de la vie des filles, en grande partie en raison du croisement dynamique des relations entre sexes et classes d’âge. L’article conclut en attirant l’attention sur des approches fondées sur les droits qui permettraient aux voix des filles d’éclairer activement les politiques de développement et les programmes de lutte contre l’aversion et la discrimination envers les filles.
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Notes
In a context of ubiquity of son preference and patriarchal privilege, the extent to which girls are disadvantaged cannot be underestimated. Therefore, the article focuses on girls’ experiences of gender discrimination and disentitlement.
The NGO began working in Usilampatti in the late 1980s to prevent female infanticide by setting up women’s self-help groups, rescuing female infants under the cradle baby scheme and girl child sponsorship (for more on the work of this NGO, see Srinivasan, 2012). The NGO also conducted the adolescent group training programme since 1996, and by June 2006 over 2000 adolescent girls had attended them. The 2-day training programme consisted of six modules on health and hygiene, nutrition, women’s rights, career guidance, government schemes and maternal and child health. A few workshops for adolescent boys were conducted since 2006.
Until the late 1990s, female infanticide was the more widely prevalent form of daughter elimination. It occurs post-birth, in the privacy of homes and is therefore less secretive than medically facilitated sex selection. This allows family and community members to know about its practice (see Srinivasan, 2012, pp. 8, 157).
Methodologically, it is near impossible to arrive at a precise assessment of female infanticide and guesstimates are often based on anecdotal evidence, timing and nature of death and birth order of the dead infant. Typically, the first daughter is welcome and never at risk; the risk of elimination increases with the number and birth order of daughters.
Notions of the good woman and regulating female chastity as ways to preserve family honour are recurring themes in gender subordination in India. See, for instance, Abraham (2001), Chakraborty (2009) and Lamb (2000).
Films and peer pressure particularly encourage such aggressive behaviour among men as a way of demonstrating their affections (Derne, 1999; Abraham, 2001; Rossi, 2013).
A Tamil woman refers to her husband, as well as other marriageable kin such as maternal uncle or his son, as mama.
See Abraham (2001), Chakraborty (2009) and Lamb (2000) for a discussion in other parts of India.
In Tamil kinship, the mother’s brother, mama, has a celebrated social and emotional status. He is obliged to protect his sister and her family, especially her daughters. He (and his sons) has the first right to marry his sister’s daughter or to decide about his niece’s marriage. In recent years, the material and emotional support that a woman and her children can expect from her brother is weakening.
There is a rich literature on the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes and subordination in the incorporation of young women in factory work. See, for instance, an early paper by Elson and Pearson (1981).
There is little research on this scheme. But there are a few NGOs working on child labour issues in the garment industry who have taken up this issue. See Solidaridad (2012).
The fourth year was on a monthly wage basis.
During the third round of fieldwork, a school in district Madurai refused to allow two girls, who were married after Class 10, to join Class 11. This generated considerable debate on the issue of early marriage and child rights especially the right to education (Imranullah (2012a, 2012b); Kumar (2012); Sinha (2012)).
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the NGO in Usilamapatti and staff for facilitating three rounds of fieldwork. Thanks to Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Pien Bos, Linda Herrera, Roy Huijsmans, Ben White, anonymous reviewers and editors of the special issue.
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Srinivasan, S. Growing Up Unwanted: Girls’ Experiences of Gender Discrimination and Violence in Tamil Nadu, India. Eur J Dev Res 26, 233–246 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2013.56
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2013.56