A DIASPORIC VIEW OF GENDER BIAS IN CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNIS SISTER OF MY HEART

Abstract

Gender bias and female foeticide are the bane of the Indian society There are many cases where would-be mothers are forced to abort their unbom daughters due to familial pressure. Boys are supposed to continue the lineage and therefore they are preferred to girls And even more disgusting is the fact that educated Indians also indulge in gender bias, They do not mind aborting a female foetus if they can get a male child in the near future. This is because of the pariarchal system prevailing in the Indian society But things are changing now. People have now begun to welcome the girl child too. It is this aspect of Indian society that Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni highlights in her novel "Sister of my Heart". At the same time she also shows how a single woman and a divorcee is not looked upon kindly in an Indian society through the character of Sudha. The novelist also seems to suggest that migration could be a means of overcoming gender bias. The present paper seeks to throw more light on these two aspects of Indian society as depicted in the novel "Sister of My Heart"