'Undesired' Women in India
India is a diverse country, separated by class and ethnicity. But across every social, geographic and economic divide Indian women face terrific cultural pressure to bear a son.
Undesired, a recent documentary project by New York multimedia studio Media Storm, focuses attention on this issue.
Featuring the work of photojournalist Walter Astrada, Undesired, powerfully tells of forced abortions, neglect and murder and also of a few courageous Indian women who are working to try to confront this widespread problem.
The numbers are staggering. Since 1980, an estimated 40 million women are missing, by way of abortion, neglect or murder. 7,000 female fetuses are aborted every day according to the UN, aborted solely because they are girls. One dowry death is reported every 77 minutes. Countless others are never known.
Today, eighty percent of Indian states are now facing a shortage of women. To compensate for this differential, young, unknowing women are trafficked from surrounding countries like Bangladesh and Nepal . They too are subjected to violence in many cases.
To create awareness, the government needs to take action to help the millions of women in India who would otherwise remain unreported. What can the government do? Share your thoughts with us below: