Street play against female foeticide
Students acting out a street play against female foeticide at Kamarajapuram in Coimbatore on Thursday.The dusty lane at Kamarajapuram was woken up from its late afternoon slumber by an announcement. “Women, please come out of your houses. You are going to witness a play, which discusses a serious issue.” Under a marquee, a group of students had congregated. Two microphones were fixed and the play was about to begin. A couple of elderly women found a place on the porch of one of the houses and watched intently. The opening scene of the play had Latha, the main character, drawing flak from her mother-in-law for bearing a girl child.Organised by the Public Affairs and Social Issues committee of the Young Women’s Christian Association, the street play on “female foeticide” touched upon the issue of domestic violence and the prejudices still nurtured by families against the girl child.It was performed by the students of English literature, PSGR Krishnammal College for Women. As the play unfurled, Latha was harassed by her husband and mother-in-law and she died in labour. Her husband remarried and her daughter was ill-treated by everyone at home. The play ended with Latha’s daughter taking care of her grandmother, who wanted to kill her while she was in her mother’s womb. Even as women were doing well in various professions considered the forte of men, the discrimination against them still continued, the narrator said. “Give life to the girl child, or at least let them live,” she said.
