Discrimination faced by girl child : a case study of girl child’s representation in Media

"I recognize no rights but human rights – I know nothing of men’s rights and women’s rights", says Angelina Grimke. Why are girls deprived of their basic rights. From 'Right to be born' to 'Right to live', they are denied of all the liberties. In late 19th Century female infanticide used to happen, where intentionally newborn female were murdered. Then in early 1990's a practice known as female foeticide started its origin. Through obstetric ultrasonography the sex of the fetus was known,and if it was a female the mother had to abort it, due to in-laws pressure. To some extent we have overcome such practices but the discrimination is still there. Gender discrimination adversely effect the childhood of a girl child and it doesn't stops there it curbs their chances, they are denied of basic right; right to education, right to be heard. They are considered as a baggage, they impel into early marriage and are treated as an objective.

Media plays an important role in these things, through television, radio, news and print people observe and follow it. It's known that the media act as a magic bullet. But what does the media do? It portrays women in a stereotypical way, they aren't showing any changes from the reality as such no positivity is there. If any woman is independent then she is shown as antagonistic, or if any woman wants to stand on their feet they have to go through hardships and struggle. Girl child discrimination impacts girls more, we don't realize but it affects the psychology of the child.

For the case study on this matter, I watched two documentaries to get more transparent acknowledgment for my studies. One is a 6 minutes documentary film named "Tamanna" and "Parivartan" documentary film, Which is of 11 minutes. The former deals with the persona of a girl child the impact on her mental being due to the discrimination faced by her in her own home. The latter deals with the Orthodoxy thoughts of male character who wants a boy child and blames his wife for that female infant. Why does the girl child have to suffer? What's her fault? Just a gender would deprive them of all their rights?

Framing of research question:
Impact on girls psychology due to the discrimination?
Why is a boy child more prioritized over a girl child?

Hypothesis:
Gender discrimination is a cause of stress, and like any other aggravation, it can directly impact mental health.
Within the society it's believed that a boy child will share the burden of the family, and would take responsibility to uplift the financial crisis of the family which girls won't be able to. But it's a myth .

Gender as an identity:
Gender identity is stated as an individual inception of oneself as male or female, both or neither. This concept is closely related to the concept of gender role, which is defined as an external reflection of a person that manifests the gender character. Gender is mainly identified by oneself or majorly it's given by a society due to their masculine or feminine behavior. For example a man is known is masculine in terms of his dressing style like shirt pants etc, behavior like working and earning, basically doing outside work etc. But if the same man is wearing pink clothing or playing with a doll or doing household chores, society will point at him and address him as a feminine, as the society has made this myth that girls are related to pink color, doll and household stuff.

Tamanna movie:
Gender Identity is established within children by age of three and is very difficult to change after that. "Tamanna" movie talks about gender discrimination and it's ill effect on girl child's psychology. It is written, edited and directed by Tawseef A. Quazi and produced by JIH media production, Maharashtra. The movie starts with a male character entering a classroom, as an art and craft teacher, played by Nitesh Malang. This shows that male are only responsible for such designation and men are more knowledgeable. The teacher asked children about their dreams, what they want to be, when they would grow up. Some children wrote that they want to be scientists, engineers, pilots, police, doctors and others. Tamanna, the protagonist played by Reem Feroz Sheikh. What she wrote made the teacher shocked and made him realize the act or practices which are ongoing within the society. "I want to become a boy," wrote Tamanna. Why did Tamanna write she wants to be a boy? In the class every child was happy and enjoying the class but Tamanna was the one who was sad, and stressed out. We see that the teacher tries to find out the matter and talks to Tamanna. Hence, he calls up her mother (Preeti Singh) for a meeting. But, why do both parents become fathers? Again it depicts the stereotypical nature of the society, where females are responsible or blamed for wrongdoings. Or raising a child or keeping up the house properly is the duty of a woman.

The teacher addresses Tamanna's mother about her abnormal behavior and further states that she even sounds disturbs. He tooks out a notebook saying it as Tamanna's notebook to show the mother about the problem. But she was surprise by seeing nothing except few ink mark "daag". And she couldn't understand what the teacher meant. The teacher explaining it further states just like these, Tamanna's mind had certain stains. " Kuch aisi daag aap ki bachi ke dimag pe aaj kal ban rahe hai." He informs the mother that whatever discrimination she is facing at home for being girl is affecting her mental health. May be at her place she is addressed as a load or burden, aur may be she has to hear a taunt from her relatives for being a girl. "Kids are keen observers of their surroundings, they notice our actions, words, behavior and whatever communication is going around them. And as a parent or an elder we forget how these things might be affecting them," says Tamanna's teacher. He assumed that may Tamanna's grandmother accused the mother for reproducing a girl child. Then the mother understands and simultaneously realized about all the other things which might be affecting her girl psychology.

Tamanna always asked her mother why his father is always working till late at night, when her sir told that her "Dadi" would be proud of her when she achieved something in life. But she said that, when she gets older she will get married. Her father is working day and night for her so that he could keep some savings for her marriage. "Is true we can change the whole system but at least we can bring change at our own homes. The things which are normal to us would abnormally affect the psychology of the children," says the teacher.

In India girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day – in movies, in the media and in their own family. There are many Tamanna who desire and wish to be a boy. Because society curses them for being a girl, they always appreciate the boy child and encourage them to go ahead in life. There are risks, disturbance and intolerance faced by girl children just because they are girls. Most of these risks are directly linked to the economic, political, social and cultural disadvantages girls deal with in their daily lives. This becomes serious during critical periods and adversity.

Parivartan:
"Parivartan '' is produced by Cine Care Illutainment Production. Devdatt Yadumani, the writer and director of the documentary. Through this movie he illustrates the desire of a father who wants a male child and was longing for years to have the child. Gender inequality is around the globe, generally families' basic preferences are male children rather than a female child, which is deeply ingrained in India and some other countries. According to the national statistics, there are 917 girls for 1000 boys on average. But in many villages the ratio is 1:2. Moreover, there are seventy other villages where no girl child has been born in the last 10 years. And still after scientific facts, the society blames women for having girl children.

The opening scene was of an ambulance in a hush at a speed of 40km/hr. Where a woman named Manju (Ekta Shri), cries out in labor pain. She keeps on mourning "the pain is unbearable," where Manju's mother (Snehal Vilankar) tries to console her by praying to God to make everything well. Prakash (Krishna Shrivastava), who was driving the ambulance was Manju's husband where it seen he was driving in his own leisure time and was singing a song, where the song indicates the proud moment of a father to have boy child, "...aane wala hai koi nanha farishta mere ghar,.....jayega ab mera bhi yeah hath moocho par….". The twirling of the mustaches symbolizes privilege, pride, masculinity and virility. Where Prakash thought of the same, when he would be blessed with a male child.

But when Prakash's mother-in-law asked him to drive faster as she was scared of her daughter's condition. Hence, Prakash started driving at speed. Further, it's seen that Prakash goes down in a memory lane, where he was playing with his 3 years old daughter (Baby Prajwal) and on the other side we see Madhu working in a kitchen and preparing tea for her husband. The typical society has been portrayed where no matter what the condition of the women, they need to do the household work. When Madhu entered the room the ball kicked her baby bump and her daughter started yelling " ball went inside mummy's stomach", but Prakash corrected her and said "No..., the ball did not go into your mom's belly...your younger brother is there. Don't you want a brother? Don't you wanna play with him?" This dialogue by Madhu's husband depicts his stereotypism. But his dreams and expectations all fade away. Madhu's mother was frightened of revealing the news that he has been blessed with a girl child but she gathered herself and told him. He becomes like a fireball and rebukes Madhu for delivering a female child. Madhu addresses him in the afterpain that this child is his even. But he sternly forces her to get down of the ambulance and says " what u thought u would be giving me girl child and silently I would be watching it." He left his wife, mother in-law and his two daughters in the pouring rain.

He drives the ambulance back, and then in the background a song is played. Which add ups to the movie. The song is the voice of every girl whose father's leave them behind just because she is a girl. In the song the daughter pleads to her father not to leave her, requesting her father not to turn his face away from her. She says she will make his happiness more lively and she would become his pride. And the girl further requested the father to stop and not to leave her. The song attached the emotional sentiment to the movie and brings the content more zestfully.

Prakash minds changed when he stopped at a shop for a fag, where he heard about Rio Olympics, in which Indian girls owned medals for the country. A country where girls are considered a curse, to those people it was like a slap. Prakash realizes his mistake and feels guilty of his wrong doings and turns to the ambulance to bring back his family. On his way the former songs continue, "that there is no difference between a male and female, the differences just exist in the thoughts. She would change the ideology and would be better than any man." The girls recite that she is made of his blood too and the bond is unbreakable. She would make him proud,so he never leaves her. The song was relatable to 1000 girls out there who are brought up by their single mother because their fathers feel ashamed to be known as a father of a girl child.

In the patriarchal society, girls are considered as a burden due to the system of dowry. Because no matter if the girl is educated, uneducated, financially stable or not, dowry has become mandatory in the form of gifts, bribes, pride or anything. Hence, whenever a girl child was born it was a concern for such things. Secondly the society believes that only men would carry forward the family heritage, as girls get married and go off to their in-laws house. They aren't even considered as a part of family; they are always addressed as "ParayaDhan".

Collection of data based on statistics and analysis:
For more clarity to the case studies secondary data are used like UNICEF data, which are mentioned as the following:
Girls aged between 5-9 and 10-14 are involved in household chores more than boys of the same age. Six to twelve hours of the girls' time goes into these things.
22% of teenage females, 15-19 years are not admitted in schooling, employment, trade or training contrasted to 12% of boys of the similar age.
In 2020, girls between the ages of 10-19 were found to be infected with HIV by almost 70% of the adolescents around the world.
Among 20 young girls one girl, approximately 13 million, suffers from sexual offences, which is one of the most violent kind of sexual abuse faced by women or girls in their lifetime.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an illegal practice, out of three girls atleast one girl goes through this, who are aged between 15-19 years old.

Conclusion:

Irrespective of any sex, gender equality is a basic right of an individual. The society or moreover at a small scale the families needs to have a vision that each child obtains their equal right to grow up healthy, educated and safe. More importantly the parents and other relatives should monitor their actions and words, because a child easily grasps those things and somewhere it keeps disturbing her in many ways. The girls herself starts considering herself as a luggage many girls like Tamanna wants to be like a boy. This severely affects children's mental health, which may be a cause of many other big problems in the near future. The society needs more fathers like Prakash who realize the importance of their girl child. Girls can make their parents equally proud as the boy will, they can equally share all the responsibility in fact more than boys can.

Each parent should teach and promote gender equality, encouraging girls from their childhood for education and health. They should no more be treated as inferior than the masculine. The right to life, right to freedom from torture, right to equal treatment, right to privacy, right to asylum, right to freedom of thought, opinion and expression, right to work and right to marry, should be granted and should be owned irrespective of any gender.

Feminine are considered as one of the most victimized segments of humanity in the developing nations and in developed nations. Discussions on the rights of women are evaluated as a danger to man’s status in society. Maltreatment is provided to girls not only at economic, social and political levels but it exists at a moral level as well. Girls are often portrayed as an object, who are morally dishonest, rarely pious and mostly involved in enticing others. It's high time that we give women the same respect, honor and fair treatment as the men and make it happen at a global level.