India is one of those countries where there’s a serious imbalance between males and females, where the number of male babies seems to outstrip that of females every year, even with laws against gender selection. The birth this week of one little girl in India may help change attitudes and even the gender imbalance in India.
In case you aren’t a Bollywood fan, the event as described by NPR commentator Sandip Roy:
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the Bollywood actress often called the most beautiful woman in the world, gave birth to a daughter. The proud dad, Abhishek Bachchan, a Bollywood hero in his own right, sent out the first tweet. Followed moments later by his dad, Bollywood’s biggest superstar, Amitabh Bachchan.
As you can tell, this was no ordinary birth, and even more surprising is that last month, celebrity gossip news reported that Abhishek Bachchan wanted a daughter. With as much interest as there is around the birth of this yet unnamed little girl (the dad is looking for suggestions beginning with “A”), it remains to be seen if Abhishek’s forward thinking attitudes around his daughter will translate to a cultural shift in the way India’s population thinks about girls.
I know at least that having my own daughter drastically changed my own views about women. Let’s hope this one baby girl will help change a nation.
