Save the Female Child (SAFE)

During the early 1990s, while implementing its other programs, CSG became aware of numerous instances where family members had killed their girl children.  This was nothing new, and had been occurring, unacknowledged, for the longest time.  Nevertheless, with the aim of eradicating the practice, CSG set out to first research the issue and understand the circumstances that allowed such atrocities to be commonplace.  Unfortunately, this was easier said than done.  The field staff found it very difficult to get information or even find people who were willing to speak with them about female infanticide and foeticide.  However, over the next few years, CSG was able to slowly build relationships with the women in the community, learn the situations they faced, and gather the required data.

By 1994, CSG established the Save the Female Child (SAFE) program, and went to work abolishing this custom.  Working in the Salem and Namakkal districts, its objectives were aimed toward preventing female infanticide and foeticide in our project areas, providing a proven model for the government to replicate in other female infanticide prone areas, and bringing about attitude changes with regards to the inequality of sexes.  Making use of over a decade’s worth of experience, CSG mobilized the community through women’s and youth groups, raised awareness about female infanticide and foeticide, provided necessary education and enabled the women to utilize their training and knowledge to address and overcome this problem in their communities.  CSG also focused on transforming these women from being beneficiaries to becoming benefactors in the community.

SAFE women’s group and youth group activities revolved around open discussions of the underlying causes of female infanticide, and what could be done to prevent it.  The reasons cited included the high cost of raising a female child – dowry, other rituals that would have to be performed for the child throughout her life, lower income potential, and the fact that she will no longer be of use to her family once she is married.  In their communities, investing in a girl child would not be advantageous because of the lower potential for a return.  Other options such as family planning and birth control were viewed with suspicion, and giving equal priority to female children for food, education, etc., was not considered economically feasible when they had male children (who would be in a better position to be of aid to the family later on) as well.  As a result, in addition to killing unwanted girl children, many families were also using ultrasounds to determine the sex of the foetus and aborting the child if it was female.

Upon presentation of CSG’s findings, the government intervened with several measures including making the registration of births and deaths compulsory, and requiring village officers to report the death of any female child in the first few years after birth, regardless of the circumstances.  The police were then obligated to investigate each death.  Furthermore, hospitals were banned from using ultrasounds to determine the sex of a foetus, and finally, the government initiated the Cradle Baby Scheme, which allowed parents to leave unwanted baby girls at police stations and primary health centers.

Some of the activities undertaken by SAFE in order to stop these killings are as follows.

Women’s and Youth Groups: Discussions in SAFE groups provided CSG and the women with a forum to address the issues, and come up with various solutions to eliminate female infanticide and foeticide.  Some of these solutions included critically taking up and discussing gender issues, implementing more of CSG’s self-employment and savings ideas to alleviate money problems for the families, and combating the evils of infanticide by means such as those covered below.

Social Activities: CSG was able to provide regular training to the women to help them understand their role in society, fight against social stigmas, etc.  CSG was able to raise awareness among the women that the practice of giving or taking dowry was a crime, and facilitated the women in opposing this tradition.  Informal talks highlighted the fact that their own children needed to be raised without such detrimental gender biases, and be provided with equal care, food, schooling and playtime in order to prevent perpetuating negative attitudes toward female children.  Advocacy efforts were made to eradicate female infanticide, and many members (male and female) pledged not to give or receive dowry, marry their children off before they were 21, etc.  CSG’s family counseling program was a great tool in helping reinforce this message, and in demonstrating the idea of gender equality.

A mass communication program was also undertaken to educate the community through entertainment such as street plays, cultural programs, etc.  Also, other community development efforts were made in order to improve the overall quality of life for villagers, and thus, bettering the lives of women (and their female children).

Education: Poverty levels and societal norms in these villages dictated that boys be given preference for education when money was scarce since men would command higher wages in the workforce than women.  Schools were often located far away, which made safety for girls a concern, and the lack of separate schools and sufficient female teachers was another cause of low female enrollment.  In addition, going to school would also keep girls away from their chores for a longer time. 

Due to these reasons, the CSG Interface School Program was initiated to increase access to government schools for girls.  Through this program, CSG was able to increase the enrollment and retention of girls, bring in more female teachers, improve school facilities, promote extracurricular activities such as sports and the arts, form and strengthen Parent Teacher Associations, and also encourage parents to care about their children’s education.  In addition, CSG also supported many families by assuming the cost of fees, uniforms, and books in order to reduce the dropout rate of female youth and prevent child marriages, improve the quantity and quality of education, broaden future employment opportunities for girls.  Better employment potential would make girls less of a burden to their families, and would ensure that they would raise their own families better.

Economic Activities: Since poverty was the major driver of female infanticide and foeticide, CSG decided to do what it could to lessen the burden, and achieve the project objectives.  As with its other programs, CSG encouraged the formation of groups, and the setting up of revolving funds and savings schemes.  This allowed the women to participate in various income-generating activities such as animal husbandry, catering, candle making, roof thatching, power looms, and setting up provision stores to name a few.  Profits from such endeavors eased the burden on families, and slowly eroded the idea that girls were a liability.

Female infanticide and foeticide have been eradicated in CSG’s project areas, and the rest of its programs along with all of the members in these programs are ever vigilant in ensuring that such incidents are not repeated.  By 2001, SAFE activities were merged with the Salem Women Development Scheme (SALWODS) and other programs since CSG believed that working to prevent female infanticide and foeticide should be a basic part of all of its projects.