Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam by Laura Rahm

Author:Laura Rahm
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030202347
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Despite this relative ‘softness’ of the state apparatus, India has remained unified for over half a century. This seems surprising, especially when picturing how socially diverse the country is. In India social conflicts run along at least four major axes: those of caste, language, religion, and class (Guha, 2008).

Caste encompasses the two Indian concepts, jāti (the group one is born into) and varna (the place of that group within the social stratification). There are four varnas and within those over 3000 jātis. Apart from that, there is the socially disadvantaged exterior or scheduled caste, long considered as ‘untouchable’ in Hindu scriptures. Linguistically, the Constitution of India recognizes 22 official languages with Hindi and English being the official languages used by the government. On the grounds of religion, Hindus make the vast majority of India’s billion-plus population, constituting 79.8% of the population. Muslims are, with 172 million, the second-largest group (14.2%), followed by Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%) and Jainists (0.4%) (Census India, 2011). Economic class disparities are also wide. India hosts some of the richest people on earth – over 100 billionaires of whom 4 are women.4 Meanwhile almost two thirds of the population lack access to modern sanitation and one-fifth lives on under 1.90 US$ per day (World Bank, 2016).

According to Guha (2008),These axes of conflict operate both singly and in tandem. Sometimes a group professing a particular faith also speaks a separate language. Often the low castes are the subordinate classes as well. And to these four central axes one should perhaps add a fifth that cuts right across them: that of gender. Here, again, India offers the starkest contrasts. A woman [Indira Gandhi, 1963–1978] served as prime minister for a full fifteen years, yet in some parts of India female infanticide is still very common (Guha, 2008, xix–xx, emphasis in original text, brackets added).

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