Gender discrimination starts even before birth. When the child is in the womb itself, if the sex is determined to be female, there is the danger of foeticide. After birth, girl children run the risk of infanticide. When they grow up, they are discriminated against in the field of education. When it comes to marriage, employed girls will have to give up their jobs to adjust with the family pattern of their husbands.

Those who continue to work, have to reject offers of promotion if it means going away from their families. With children coming into the picture, employment becomes a bigger problem. In addition, there is the fear of physical assault.

Thus, there is discrimination against girls at every stage. If this has to end, there should be radical change in the way society looks at girls. This is possible only when there are more and more awareness programmes which erase from the consciousness of people the idea that girls are inferior to boys. This is not an easy task because beginning with the mass media to religion, all powerful influences in society show girls playing second fiddle to men. But tasks which are challenging shouldn’t be given up.

We should try and accomplish such tasks with greater resolve. Individuals and governments should join hands to bring about the much needed progressive change in society by giving more and more incentives to girl children in education and employment. There should also be stringent punishment to those who go against women’s parity and empowerment.