Feature film — 1998

Gift of A Girl (1998)

This film explores the complexity of female infanticide in southern India and shows steps that are being taken to eradicate the practice. Every year in India thousands of baby girls are killed. Partly because of the dowry system which makes a daughter a liability to a family. In a country where being a woman means living a life of hardship, the murder of female infants may be seen by the mothers as being a humane solution. URISE, a non-governmental agency, is working in the villages to promote the idea among women that female children are equal in the eyes of the law and can be an asset in the family, setting up associations called sanghams to support pregnant women and mothers in their decision to keep their daughters. When a girl is born, the sanghams celebrates her arrival with gifts, showing that a girl is something to be valued. This sensitive film does not dwell on the horrors of the practice. Rather, it allows the women to speak for themselves showing how they can be empowered.