STUDY OF LIFE SATISFACTION OF MARRIED WOMEN IN RELATION TO FEMALE FOETICIDE AND GIRL CHILD

In the words of Murthy, 2002, we talk endlessly on the podium. We worship goddesses. We are proud to say that women have the same rights as men in our constitution. The Ardhanareeshwara form of LordShiva shows that he too had consented to this equality. Our scriptures and our history tell of women with extraordinary qualities. But, in reality, do our women really feel secure? Do they actually enjoy freedom? Do they enjoy rights in society? Maybe a few do. The present study conducted in the state of Uttarakhand, India, aims to study the life satisfaction of married women in relation to their status and the cause behind female foeticide. A total of 600 married women were taken, divided into three groups ?those with two male children, those with two female children and the ones who had one male and one female child. The study gives an insight into the six areas of life satisfaction of these women, who were found to be differently treated by their family, th ey were ridiculed only because they did the ‘sin of bearing a girl child’, or were worshipped for bearing a male child. The analysis of variance showed values obtained for different factors of Life Satisfaction Scale as -Health Satisfaction 14.8, Personal Satisfaction 14.95, Economic Satisfaction 22.47, Marital Satisfaction 20.05, Social Satisfaction 13, and Job Satisfaction20.01. There is a long way to go before we would be able to say that the worldhas become a safe place for women. Various measures need to be taken, and various agencies need to join hands to bring in the awareness.