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labor. this mother hopes for a boy after V having four girls. two of whom are alive. private clinic. usi!am atti. tami! nadu. in dia I aba ndoned newborn girl and midwife. usi!ampatti government hospital. tami! nadu. in dia The marginalization of women is dramatized in Rajasthan, a province in the northwestern corner of India and home of the Rajputs, warrior groups who controlled this part of India for thousands of years. Rajasthan is divided into two sections: the rugged, mountainous southeastern region and the even more desolate Thar Desert that extends northwest Into Pakistan. Though the days are long gone when women That Rashmi Misra loves her country is clear from the way she tal ks about it, the way her eyes sparkle when she mentions Rajasthan, "Land of the Kings, " and, conversely, the way her face darkens when she talks about women's rights. "Girl children are unwanted, " explains Misra, who has two sons and is the founder of the Vidya, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides schooling for slum-dwelling women and children in South Delhi. "They're either aborted or killed, and when they're born there are no celebrations because a girl means dowry. "Girls are told, 'You belong to another family, you're just a guest here.' So they have to learn how to cook, clean, manage the home, in order to be of use elsewhere. They don't have a childhood. The men smoke, the boys go to school and the girls work. In some villages, women cannot talk above a whisper if they don't produce sons or a male is in the room. But girls accept this; it's their destiny. " were only allowed to peek outdoors from behind elegantly detailed sandstone or marble screens, Rajasthani women still lead burdensome lives. While women head many rural households-because the men have either abandoned them or died-75 percent are illiterate. Many know little of their legal rights regarding marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and health maintenance, and they're almost always economically dependent on the men. To be sure, women have made strides in India: They make up nearly 10 percent of Parliament; women's