Indian Health Minister to ban “son-centric” ads.

Anbumani Ramadoss, India’s Health Minister and father of three girls, is requesting a ban on gender bias in advertisements, where depictions of families are typically daughterless. According to the minister, it reinforces sexism and often results in female infanticide:

An estimated 10 million baby girls have been murdered in India in the past 20 years because parents see boys as better future breadwinners.
Recent figures have shown the situation is getting worse, with the gender ratio down to 927 girls for every 1000 boys and falling, particularly in well-heeled urban areas where people have access to the technology that enables them to determine their child’s sex.

Gender determination is presently banned, but more or less ignored. The goverment is also starting a new initiative to encourage parents to give their unwanted daughters to the state as an alternative to infanticide.