On Sunday 10 Apr 2011 2:34:09 am Radhika, Y. wrote: > > One observation Shobha makes really resonates for me: if women and girls > > are themselves made so insecure by their circumstances how can they > > welcome girl children? I don't think it is restricted to the rural poor.
The mechanism is not too dificult to understand and it occurs in modern-day Indian families. For starters the girl marries the family. Even if she is wooed by (or woos) someone - the fact that her handsome hunk of man is mamma's boy may be hidden until too late. The daughter in law of the family gets a position that is just above servant. The maid goes missing and daughter in law fills in. The one life event that can rescue a late-teens/twenty-something girl from this life of servitude is the birth of a boy child. Her squealing baby, little Rahul Rajkumar - the future heir to the family honor is now the focus of attention. But little Rahul only wants to be with mamma. So mamma needs to be looked after and pampered. As long as little Rahul depends on mamma, mamma will be queen mother. Naturally, the longer the dependence of Rahul on mamma, the longer the joy lasts for the erstwhile servant/daughter in law. But, god forbid, if she should err and produce a girl child - then woe betide her. Naturally. Boys are a better bet. shiv
