In India, the sound of women banging their thalis tells everyone there’s something to celebrate. The birth of a baby is a special occasion, but what’s unusual about this ceremony, is it’s to welcome a baby girl.
Traditionally ceremonies like these welcome baby boys, but not baby girls. This event in Maharashtra, has been organised by the Tejaswini project, which was funded by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development or IFAD and the Indian Government. The project has empowered over one million women giving them financial and cultural independence.
Despite laws to ban pre-birth gender selection and address high rates of female foeticide, in many parts of India having a baby girl is still seen as a huge disappointment. This event reinforces the project’s goal to encourage families to treat girls as equals.
A combined effort by community projects like this one and the government laws has seen a marked improvement in the number of girls born in the area. According to the National Health Survey, in 2005 it was just 867 to every 1000 males, now it is 924, and slightly higher than the national average of 919.
-IFAD
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