A matter of value.

"Women now make up nearly 50% of employees in surveyed companies, representing a surge of 17% when compared to 2021, finds a new report." ET. "In its fifth edition, the report provides a compilation of data collected from over 300 companies across India between January 2022 and January 2023." Should be a good thing because these women can afford to pay a hefty dowry. "Dowries have been illegal in India since 1961, but the bride's family is still expected to gift cash, clothes and jewelry to the groom's family. Now a 27 -year-old teacher in the central city of Bhopal has started a petition asking the police to deploy officers at marriage venues and conduct raids to put an end to this 'social evil'." BBC. "According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 35,493 brides were killed in India between 2017 and 2022 - an average of 20 women a day - for bringing in insufficient dowry." This number would be a gross underestimation as many deaths would have been covered up through bribes and family connections. "Most Indian marriages are still arranged," and "Some 90% of the marriages studied until 1999 involved dowry. Dowry payments between 1950 and 1999 amounted to a quarter of a trillion dollars," wrote Soutik Biswas. Perhaps, one silver lining is that "As the number of educated grooms in a marriage market increases, there is a decrease in the 'dowry premium' that more educated grooms receive, the study found." On the other hand, a higher percentage of girls are clearing secondary schools compared to boys, wrote Shailja Vaidya Gupta. Of the 100% of enrollment in primary schools, "83% of girls and 81% of boys clear secondary school, while 67.7% of girls and 61.6% of boys clear higher secondary; this translates to a whopping 39% dropout rate for boys and a surprising 1.07 female-to-male ratio of students in educational attainment." The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-2021 found that, "The sex ratio at birth (SRB), however, was still worryingly low at 929 (girls to 1000 boys), indicating continued sex selection at birth, despite an improvement from the previous survey." TOI. While the rest of the world reports sex ratio on the number of boys for every 100 girls, India counts its ratio on the number of girls per 1000 boys. The natural ratio is 103-107 boys for every 100 girls. Our World in Data. Multiplying by 10, the normal ratio is 1050 boys per 1000 girls. As per India's unique system it works out to 950 girls per 1000 boys. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimated the sex ratio in India at 910 girls per 1000 boys. drishtiias.com. So, there are fewer girls, a higher percentage of girls are more educated than boys, an increasing number of women is working in high paying jobs, and yet, an average of 20 women are killed for dowry everyday. They should add this in the National Curriculum of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) school textbooks to show our glory. Men selling themselves. Glorious indeed.