We have a saying in our language "Both a girl and a boy are children, both sweeter than each other."
But do we always think so? Are they both equally loveable for most of us? Unfortunately, that is not the case. The discrimination between boys and girls has been evident in our society for centuries. The reason for this, and in fact the culprit, are mostly men. Men's biggest dream in life is for their women to give birth to a boy. When a boy is not born, there are rumors in the family, the woman whom the man loved until yesterday is often lost sight of, and even divorces occur because of this. Hundreds of examples can be given about it. The result of this is in front of our eyes. This result is in fact what made me write this article.
Azerbaijan became first place
Two days ago, I came across news articles in the press with the headlines: Azerbaijan is in the first place among the countries that prefer selective abortion according to the gender ratio of the children born. Media expert Aynur Veysalova said this during her speech at the training for journalists on "Increasing gender sensitivity in Azerbaijani media". She noted that according to the statistics of 2021, there are 115 boys for every 100 girls in Azerbaijan. "Before, the first place in the list for selective abortion belonged to China, and Azerbaijan was in second place. Now the situation is reversed. This indicator is currently 100-110.3 in China. It should be taken into account that the gender ratio of the children born is 102-106 according to the biological norm. So, if there is no external intervention, there are 102-106 boys for every 100 girls born. Violation of this ratio has been observed in Azerbaijan since the early 1990s.
The expert said that over the past 55 years, the fertility rate in Azerbaijan has decreased significantly: "As a result of the decline in reproduction in Azerbaijan over the last decades and the widespread use of ultrasound examination, which allows determining the gender of the fetus, the preference given to male children in the country is realized through selective abortions. This causes a serious violation of the gender ratio among the children born.
According to the calculations of the UN Population Fund, if the serious violation of the gender ratio among children born in Azerbaijan continues, by 2050 the number of boys born annually will be 12,000-15,000 more than the number of girls. The continuation of this increase in the number of men in the society can lead to a situation where the country faces sad consequences. This includes gender inequality, violence, early marriage, human trafficking and increasing crime rates. If we don't want to face this situation, we need to value girls. For the sake of a fair society, equal opportunities should be created for girls.
I would like to mention that 60,094 births were registered in the state within the first half of this year. According to the Ministry of Justice, 32,074 of them were boys and 28,020 were girls.
Since the 90s
Today's terrible indicator, as I mentioned above, is that our society gives priority to male children, they are more desirable. Modern technologies that have entered our lives have made this dream a reality. USMs started giving the verdict of "enough" to our daughters who were born in our families until the 90s, and were even named Basti (word for "enough" in Azerbaijani).
We have observed all this many times among our relatives and neighbors in the districts, cities and villages where we live. But all this could not change our desire for a boy child and the discrimination we put between them and our girls. Because there are problems in our way of thinking. We have always thought that the son is the successor. I wonder what a girl child is, "the end" I guess. It turns out that we do not consider the daughter as a child, and we do not consider her child as our successor. It is a pity that even though we live in the 21st century, we still live with the thinking of the 10-11th centuries and accept it as such. For this reason, every man wants to have at least one boy in his house, and he wants it very badly. To achieve this, he sometimes commits violent acts. Abuses his wife, ends the marriage with her, and remarries.
We have witnessed this many times. When the USMs started to determine the gender of children, it was a good opportunity for our men and women who feel guilty about not being able to give birth to boys.
If we look at the statistics, we can see that USMs served mothers who wanted to give birth to a boy after having 2-3 daughters in the family. In this way, thousands of families achieved their dream of having a son. Later, ultrasound examination became, in the truest sense of the word, family planning. So, not only men, but also our women are to blame for the results of selective abortions in Azerbaijan today. Because women turned ultrasound examination into family planning. That is, if the first child was a girl, they did not allow the second child to be a girl. By asking for a boy for the second time, they both fulfilled the dreams of their spouses and thought that they no longer needed children. So now we all witness that most families have two children: one girl, one boy. As we do not yet know that this will cause us big problems in the future, we continue in this way.
Women are also to blame for this aspect of the matter. Because one of two children is a boy, the man is no longer interested in increasing the number of family members. But a woman is also a parent. Thinking about the present and the future of their child is a feeling given to women more than men. But family planning with the help of USMs creates an environment for women to have light work, to pursue a career, and not to suffer more. Those problems that seriously affect the growth of the population and the number of children in the family and the problems caused by it.
Selective abortions should be banned
Selective abortions are injustice and insult to humanity. It is the most dangerous tool against equality between men and women. We are talking about gender equality, but the first factor that violates this equality is selective abortions.
Each of us is guilty for the increase in selective abortions, making our country the first in the world, disturbing the balance of boys and girls, and causing great problems in the future. We should have departed from the national traditions in this regard years ago. We should have eliminated this innovation, which is a danger to humanity, and prevent its development and spread.
When we look at the statistics of recent years, we observe that boys are more than girls among children born in all years. The problems caused by this are already felt. In the near future, the weight of this issue will continue to worsen.
Today, the fact that Azerbaijan ranks first in the world in terms of selective abortions shows that it is time to sound the alarm in the health care system. Why selective abortions have not been banned yet? I wonder what prevented this? Because no one has the right to know in advance the gender of the child they will give birth to. No one's right is violated by not knowing it. Then why is this type of abortion not prohibited?
As the number of boys increases, the number of girls decreases many times more. We will not be able to find a daughter to be a mother in the future. I hope that all doctors and specialists will vote for our call and ban selective abortions. Let our daughters who are also our successors be born.
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