India's Skewed Sex Ratio Puts GE Sales in Spotlight

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

April 18, 2007

India's Skewed Sex Ratio Puts GE Sales in Spotlight
By PETER WONACOTT
April 18, 2007; Page A1

INDERGARH, India -- General Electric Co. and other companies have sold so many ultrasound machines in India that tests are now available in small towns like this one. There's no drinking water here, electricity is infrequent and roads turn to mud after a March rain shower. A scan typically costs $8, or a week's wages. GE has waded into India's market as the country grapples with a difficult social issue: the abortion of female fetuses by families who want boys. Campaigners against the practice and some government officials are linking the country's widely reported skewed sex ratio with the spread of ultrasound machines. That's putting GE, the market leader in India, under the spotlight. It faces legal hurdles, government scrutiny and thorny business problems in one of the world's fastest-growing economies.

"Ultrasound is the main reason why the sex ratio is coming down," says Kalpana Bhavre, who is in charge of women and child welfare for the Datia district government, which includes Indergarh. Having a daughter is often viewed as incurring a lifetime of debt for parents because of the dowry payment at marriage. Compared to that, the cost of an ultrasound "is nothing," she says. For more than a decade, the Indian government has tried to stop ultrasound from being used as a tool to determine gender. The devices use sound waves to produce images of fetuses or internal organs for a range of diagnostic purposes. India has passed laws forbidding doctors from disclosing the sex of fetuses, required official registrations of clinics and stiffened punishments for offenders. Nevertheless, some estimate that hundreds of thousands of girl fetuses are aborted each year.

(snip)

The skewed sex ratio is an example of how India's strong economy has, in unpredictable ways, exacerbated some nagging social problems, such as the traditional preference for boys. Now, some activists are accusing GE of not doing enough to prevent unlawful use of its machines to boost sales. "There is a demand for a boy that's been completely exploited by multinationals," says Puneet Bedi, a New Delhi obstetrician. He says GE and others market the machines as an essential pregnancy tool although the scans often aren't necessary for mothers in low risk groups.

Earlier this month, prosecutors in the city of Hyderabad brought a criminal case against the GE venture with Wipro as well as Erbis Engineering Co., the medical-equipment distributor in India for Japan's Toshiba Corp. In the suits, the district government alleges that the companies knowingly supplied ultrasound machines to clinics that weren't registered with the government and were illegally performing sex-selection tests. The penalty is up to three months in prison and a fine of 1,000 rupees. Both companies deny wrongdoing and say they comply with Indian laws. A GE spokesman said yesterday the company hadn't received court notification but its legal team would be looking into the charges.

(snip)

India has long struggled with an inordinate number of male births, and female infanticide -- the killing of newborn baby girls -- remains a problem. The abortion of female fetuses is a more recent trend, but unless "urgent action is taken," it's poised to escalate as the use of ultrasound services expands, the United Nations Children's Fund said in a report this year. India's "alarming decline in the child sex ratio" is likely to exacerbate child marriage, trafficking of women for prostitution and other problems, the report said. The latest official Indian census in 2001 showed a steep decline in the relative number of girls aged 0-6 years from 10 years earlier: 927 girls for every 1,000 boys compared with 945 in 1991. In much of northwest India, the number of girls has fallen below 900 for every 1,000 boys. In the northern state of Punjab, the figure is below 800.

(snip)


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117683530238872926.html (subscription)

[Recursion]

1. Sadly and ironically...

...same as in China, this wholesale misogynistic slaughter will end up removing the "market liability" girls represent since no man will be able to ask much of a dowry for any of the few women of marriageable age. Once again, the free market works, just way too slowly.

[piedmont]

6. Yeah, but then they'll just start buying women

The misogeny will continue, but the money will flow in the opposite direction.

[HardRocker05]

2. and some people think that sexism is a triviality. women everywhere need to unite against this

against this bullshit, and decent, fair-minded men should join them without reservation.

[Blue_Tires]

3. i don't quite see how GE is to blame

and how bringing up criminal charges would do much help...it is that society's values that is the root cause of the blame, NOT GE, who is just trying to cash in like any predatory corporation...by empowering women and erasing the stigma of female children, they might be able to eventually reverse the trend

[question everything]

4. Go after the deep pockets

and... call attention to the problem.

[SoCalDem]

5. 20 yrs from now, ther might be a new issue.. Boys marrying boys

:)