Activists say deep-rooted patriarchal views and slow efforts to empower girls and women in South Asia have made it difficult to eradicate a strong preference for sons which exists in much of the region
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A woman in northwestern Pakistan was divorced by her husband after she gave birth to a third daughter, the Express Tribune reported on Monday.
According to the report, Tabassum Bibi returned home from hospital on Sunday after giving birth to a baby girl, but found that her husband Muhammad Aamir refused to let her enter their home and divorced her at the gate of the house.
"She (Bibi) said when she got pregnant the third time, he (Aamir) had threatened to kill the child if it was a girl,' the newspaper report said, adding that her husband had taken her to several Sufi priests to give her amulets so she would have a son.
"Tabassum Bibi said her parents had refused to take her back, and so she had shifted to her aunt’s house. She said she had no idea where she would go since she could not stay at her aunt's house all her life," added the report.
Activists say deep-rooted patriarchal views and slow efforts to empower girls and women in South Asia have made it difficult to eradicate a strong preference for sons which exists in much of the region.
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