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Comment by Karishma1234 | Hacker News Reader

I personally think this is a good idea. It is better for the well being of the child if parents love him/her instead of having an unwanted child.

Female child is expensive in India and Indians are poor hence not all can afford the luxury of female child.

I absolutely hate the objectification of women as vaginas for our boys. All the discussion around the topic is "we need vaginas for our boys" who will produce babies if we kill all girls?

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That’s a terrible justification, girls are only a luxury because society make them to be. Through western societies and modern China, it’s already proven that other than physical strength, women are capable of receiving and making good use of education, can generate decent amount of income to support themselves even without a husband, can rise to leadership in many different fields. But in India and rural China, the opportunities for girls to develope are ripped away from them because of traditional beliefs. Hence growing into “luxury” women who have no skills or desirability other than being vaginas to men.

Indian parents who do not like girl child will agree with you. Even the most conservative parents do not doubt female ability. It is just that they prove less valuable than male child for following reasons. 1. Parents have to spend more time/money to ensure her safety. 2. The money she earns does not become part of the family but goes to her husband as she leaves house. 3. You invest on her education she get a great job and buys a big house. You don't get to live there her husband gets that house. 4. If she is educated she wants more educated husband which means you have to pay more dowry as there is more competition for highly educated grooms.

Even if your daughter is that kickass smarty pants you stand to lose.

PS - All these problems mellow once the income level of people rise significantly as people marry through love marriage etc. But there are other skews because majority of Indian girls fall in ugly category hence men compete for 5% of girls in love marriage market where as no one goes after the 95% one. Check this : https://www.singledudetravel.com/2013/12/indias-shocking-lac...

again, all the points you listed which make girls more "luxury", I could also argue that society make them the way it is. 1. parents have to spend more money/time to ensure her safety -- because boys in india often don't receive enough education on respecting girls and that they're not objects. Sure, women are more vulnerable to sexual assaults around the world, but it's not like every day I walk from home to school or home to work that I have to worry about getting raped in Canada. 2. the money she earns does not go to the family -- in western cultures, boys don't give money to their parents either. On the opposite spectrum, in modern days China, both boys and girls are expected to share some income with their parents, so the problem that boys = more money for the house does not exist 3. you don't get to live in the house -- again very similar to point 2, in western countries, you don't get to live in your boy's house either 4. with more educated husband you have to pay more dowry, this is a very specific indian thing which I cannot begin to understand as there are already less women than men. In the parents' minds, girls are worth less hence making them having to pay to get rid of their daughters. If girls worth more to them, the situation would perhaps change (again, see families with educated girls that have decent jobs in modern days China, often demanding the groom to pay for the house and car)

When you venture into "people should change their mentality" logic you are likely to meet with disappointment. I am saying this with utmost respect for your thought process though. The very reason it is a common mentality is because "it works so far".

> this is a very specific Indian thing which I cannot begin to understand as there are already less women than men.

It is because parents just don't want to get rid of the daughter. They want to use her as a currency to get related to a much richer family than them. That is what makes it a far tougher market.

Think of it like this. You might think you get more sex as 20 year old because of your youth. But in reality a 20 year old is likely to sleep with girls between 18 to 20 year old. But if you are 40 year old your target set becomes 20 to 35 which is much bigger and very likely you might get more sex partners than 20 year old.

If you are a girl with income level X you want a husband whose income level is 2X. The boy can chose any girl from income levels < 2X. In fact higher up you are on economic level you can point your finger to a girl and pick her to marry.

The single "I am not getting a wife" people are essentially at the poorer spectrum they are not uniformly distributed. These are the people sending "show bobs and vegene" messages on facebook !

There are a bunch of subsidies\welfare programs available for female children alone... Its much cheaper to raise a female child than to raise a male child, and dowry is no longer mandatory, it largely comes into play when you're trying to marry up (like say the groom earns 5-10x the wife's salary)

In any sensible country such programs would be seen as unconstitutional most certainly in USA. But of course in India sectarian discriminatory laws is a norm. In India if you rape a brahmin child you get N years in prison. If you rape a child from prescribe list of castes you get N+3 years in jail.

> like say the groom earns 5-10x the wife's salary Correct and all girls pay this dowry willingly. No one has forced them to marry up. They can marry equal or below.

> hence not all can afford the luxury of female child.

Heh, another fix for that is to work towards making a female child not a luxury

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