Three Generations of Women Discuss Female Feticide

Since Fulkari has started, we have been involved in an issue that has been held very dear to our hearts.Every Monday we present the segment Chirian Da Chamba-The Birds Nest that highights women’s issues within our community. Sometimes those issues are light and fun but sometimes we address the dark parts of our community that must be shed light on. Female feticide is an issue within our community that has long been the hot topic in India, but as statistics begin to arise about this brutal practice in Canada, we must try to stop it. We made a commitment to talk about this topic and bring awareness about its different sides until these numbers begin to change.

On Monday, April 16th I was invited to CBC’s Metro Morning to speak about a new study released by Dr. Joel Ray that stated that the rise of India-born mothers in Ontario were more likely to have a boy as their third child when their first two children were girls. The ratio of boys to girls for this demographic is 136 boys to 100 girls. In comparison, Canada-born Ontario mothers have a ratio of 105 boys to 100 girls which is widely seen as the global average. These stats presume that the discrepancy in numbers maybe due to practice of aborting a baby due to its sex.  To hear the interview about this topic you can click here:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/AudioMobile/Metro Morning/ID=2223342026

Later that day, Mary Weins of CBC sat down with three generations of women to hear our perspectives of women and female feticide. My Beji (Nani Ji), mom Raj Ghuman, and I sat down to an enlightening discussion that negotiated between our own generation and cultural gaps to better understand female feticide. You can hear that special here:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/AudioMobile/Metro Morning/ID=2224187604

To learn about our past and try to fix what is in our future is something we hope we can do as women, and more importantly as members of this beautiful Punjabi community.

Harjot Ghuman-Matharu
Twitter: HarjotGhuman