#Fight4theFoetus

Fight4theFoetus is a campaign for the spread of awareness among the people, especially among the young people, regarding the dangers of gender discrimination against the female foetus and infant and against the elimination of these through foeticide and infanticide. The campaign will also educate the masses on gender justice and equanimity towards girls and women. The duration of the campaign is planned to be for six years from the day of the official launching on the 11th of October, 2015.

Awareness on the dangerous consequences of the decreasing child sex ratio, the causes for discrimination against the girl child, the rules and regulations in force to check all forms of injustice towards the female population and all other relevant information will be spread all over India, by all means and within the shortest possible time frame. Coordination of efforts by other individuals, institutions, agencies and organisations in this direction and supporting their activities through supply of tools for campaigning are also among the objectives.

Vision

The Campaign envisages an India without gender injustice, in which the unborn female foetus and the infant girl child will be safe from all attempts at killing them, will grow up enjoying equal status with boys in health and education and get equal opportunities with men in social, economic, religious and political fields in adult life.

Mission

The Mission is the realisation of the vision through conducting effective awareness programmes covering all Indians, especially the young people, through doing liaison work with the authorities and through coordinating and supporting the work of individuals, institutions, agencies and organisations engaged in the same or similar activities.

Objectives

• Stop all sex-selective foeticide and infanticide immediately and completely
• Make all people aware of the gravity of the imminent socio-economic consequences
• Make all the young people of India convinced that only they can make an immediate change in the demographic crisis and that they will enjoy the fruits of such a change
• Fight against child abuse which has increased due to the decrease in child sex ratio gradually turning into a decrease in adult sex ratio
• Make people aware of the dangers of child marriage, purchasing wives and polyandry which have begun to increase as a consequence of the falling child sex ratio
• Work against all forms of discrimination against the girl child, especially in education and health
• Promote initiatives for giving more access to girls in higher education and technical education
• Campaign against the discrimination of women in work place like restricting them to lower paid jobs and giving them lesser remuneration
• Storm against the dowry system which is one of the greatest causes of making people kill female foetuses and infants
• Promote better environment at work places as a means to make women more financially independent so that they are less enslaved by husbands and relatives
• Fight against all forms of trafficking in women and girls which has increased as a result of ‘bride drought’
• Support all the efforts of the Government and official agencies to control this menace
• Educate doctors, lab technicians and other medical professionals about the dangerous consequences of female foeticide that will undermine our society and the future of our nation
• Convince those in the medical profession that female foeticide will be a blemish on the whole medical profession and will tarnish their image among the public
• Inspire NGOs to fight against foeticide and recognise and reward their initiatives and achievements in this direction
• Coordinate the programmes of like-minded agencies/NGOs and other organisations engaged in the same or related activities and supply them with ideas and tools for their work
• Encourage intervention in support of unwilling mothers who oppose foeticide
• Encourage intervention against scanning centres engaged in illegal activities in the sphere of female foeticide

Activities

The following are the activities of the Campaign:

• Maintaining a website and related social media presence
• Convening campaign programmes for spreading awareness
• Preparing and distributing campaign leaflets, memorabilia and other materials
• Producing films with a strong message against foeticide and highlighting its causes and impacts
• Creating stories and songs that will be interesting to the adolescents, young people of marriageable age and the recently married people whose roles will be crucial in getting immediate results
• Screening the films, free of cost, as a part of the campaign, before the common people and participating in film festivals for speedier propagation of the message
• Working against the causes that contribute to the preference for male children among parents, especially the dowry system
• Working against social evils like child abuse and other tendencies that make the girl child insecure outside her home
• Supporting the efforts of the Government and official agencies
• Coordinating the work of like-minded organisations and agencies
• Preparing and supplying multimedia tools to all activists, social workers, Governmental and Non-Governmental agencies and Non-Governmental organisations
• Inspiring the associate organisations, agencies and individuals as mentioned above to use these tools
• Giving recognition to the achievements of such associates by publicising and distributing awards during conventions/events
• Encouraging efforts to make women more financially self-reliant so that they will not be a burden on their families
• Teaching people about the laws and regulations in force in the country against female foeticide and other forms of gender discrimination against the female population
• Encouraging intervention against scanning centres engaged in informing customers about the sex of the foetus
• Supporting pregnant women who are unwilling to undergo female foeticide against the wishes of the in-laws.
• Working for getting literature on gender justice distributed in the printed form and made part of educational materials in schools and colleges
• Campaigning among health workers and medical practitioners and convincing them of the grave consequences of ‘bride-drought’ on the society and compelling them to stop the crime of foeticide and unnecessary scanning