DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GIRL CHILD: – A CRITICAL STUDY IN HARPUR AND BHUSKAUL VILLAGES OF PUSA BLOCK AT SAMASTIPUR DISTRICT OF BIHAR
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Date
2022
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Publisher
Dr.RPCAU, Pusa
Abstract
Every child is equally vital in society for maintaining social balance. The
environment for children should be full of peace, prosperity, fairness, and dignity. But
in reality, discrimination affects the purity of social equilibrium between boys and
girls which creates a huge difference between the two sexes. Our country touches the
tip of success in different fields like education, technology, mass media, and so on but
some old-fashioned taboos and culture hampered the value of girls in society. It also
affects the growth and development of each girl in every stage of life. Discrimination
against girls occurs in both higher- and lower-class families and the pattern of
discrimination is highly complex. Some stereotypes related to discrimination
gradually encroach on every girl's freedom of choice, suppressing the balance
between males and females and dragging our society into a bad state. The present
study entitled “Discrimination against girl child: – a critical study in Harpur and
Bhuskaul villages of Pusa block at Samastipur district of Bihar” was conducted in
Harpur and Bhuskaul villages of Samastipur district of Bihar with four objectives a)
To find out the socioeconomic status and personal characteristics of the respondents,
b) To know the discrimination prevailing followed by people in the research area,
c)To know the extent of discrimination practiced by the people d)To find out ways
and means to reduce discrimination to understand every criterion of discrimination
against girls. For conducting this research researcher selected 120 respondents which
means 60 adolescent girls of 10 to 19 years from Harpur village and 60 adolescent
girls of 10 to 19 years from Bhuskaul village by using simple random sampling
method. Further to know about the discrimination in the study area a well-structured
interview schedule was developed and with the help of that schedule primary data was
collected from the respondents. The collected data were analyzed with the help of
appropriate statistical tools like frequency, percentage, correlation, and ranking
method to make data more authentic, meaningful, and informative. The study found
that socio economic variables like age (most of the respondents were within the age of
18), caste (most of the respondents were belonged to OBC category), religion (all the
respondents were Hindu), marital status (all the respondents were unmarried), family
type (most of the respondents had nuclear family), family size (most of the
respondents had 5 members in their family), housing type (equal distribution was
showed in this category), education (most of the respondents belonged to secondary
and higher secondary education), fathers occupation (most of the respondents‟ fathers
worked as labourer), mothers occupation (most of the respondents‟ mothers were
housewives), annual family income (the range varied from 50,000/- to 1lakh) and
exposure to mass media (most of the respondents used mobile phone). The findings of
discrimination in various fields revealed that in the case of decision making the
majority of respondents' families controlled their daughters' wearing and grooming
styles, whereas the majority of respondents never had the opportunity to participate in
their families' financial matters. In the case of educational opportunities, most of the
respondents had the highest acceptance of studying with their own interests, whereas
most of the respondents' parents did not compel their daughters to study hard. In the
case of nutrition, most of the respondents got sweets, beverages, and other snacks
whereas most of the respondents mothers did not pressurize their daughters to eat
more food and did not give them special meals during menstruation. In the case of
health and hygiene, all the respondents maintained general body cleanliness during
baths and kept their garments neat and clean on a daily basis whereas most of the
respondents did not use iron and calcium tablets for nutritional fulfillment of the body.
In the case of resource allocation, most of the respondents rode bicycles to school and
college, while most of the respondents had no idea about ATM cards. In the case of
socialization and social recognition, most of the respondents parents allowed their
daughters friends to visit home whereas most of the respondents were not allowed to
went on school or college picnics and were also not allowed to worship God during
menstruation. The findings of the extent of discrimination disclosed that in the extent
of decision making most of the respondents had the high mean score in allowed to
make only household decisions with no financial implications whereas low mean
score in attitude towards voting. So, the high and low mean scores of the rest of the
parameters of the extent of discrimination were completely mentioned in the results
and discussion. The correlational findings of the extent of discrimination showed that
the education of the respondents positively and significantly correlated with
discrimination at 5% level whereas the occupation of both parents, annual income of
the family, and exposure to mass media was positively and significantly correlated
with discrimination at 1% level. However, some variables such as age, caste, family
size, family type, and housing pattern are completely insignificant with discrimination
whereas educational opportunities were positively and significantly correlated with
decision making at 1% level whereas nutrition, health, resource allocation, and
socialization and social recognition were negatively and significantly correlated with
decision making at 1% level. The last objective was the conceptual framework of
ways and means to reduce discrimination. The present study indicated that
discrimination was found in every stage and discrimination had an adverse effect on
girls in the study area.