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Star power to fight female foeticide
By Shweta Thakur
Hema Malini |
“Female foeticide, domestic violence and dowry are the three biggest problems that the women of our country face today. I feel very sad when I hear about the killing of female foetuses,” Hema, who has two daughters, told IANS.
“Since I am an artist, people come to see my dance and if I start lecturing them about female foeticide they might not listen to me. So I thought why not convey the message through dance. And we (Hema and her daughters Esha and Ahana) started working on a video condemning killing of female foetuses.”
The video is likely to be launched next month.
“We would first introduce it through our dance ballet Parampara. Depending on its impact we would convert it into a 45-minute video. The rest depends on the ministry of women and child development, how they put it on air — via TV or in theatres,” said the actress who has been seen in socially relevant films like Baghban and Babul.
Nearly a million female foetuses are believed to be aborted every year in India — a country known for its male preference — which means over 2,700 girls die every day before even seeing the light of day.
“Along with the primary education, every girl child must be taught about women’s rights, at least once a week because once they graduate from school they face an ugly world. Even girls from rich families go through bad experiences.”
The veteran actress, who churned out hits like Johnny Mera Naam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay, Charas and many more in the 1970s, also said that more awareness must be spread amongst women, about their rights to help them tackle social evils like dowry and domestic violence.
“Once women know their rights, they would have less difficulty in dealing with problems like domestic violence and dowry,” she said.
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