India's Unwanted Girls

Part one: The Vanishing Gender

India's Unwanted Girls

• Part two: Quacks and drugs

• Part three: The wife trade

In this three-part multimedia slideshow, photographer Ann Johansson travels to Haryana in the Punjab area of northern India to explore the far-reaching implications of the illegal - but thriving - dowry system.

As many as 10 million female foetuses may have been aborted in India over the last 20 years as families try to secure a male heir, according to a 2006 study published in the medical journal The Lancet.

Daughters are generally considered to be a liability since they require a dowry and are therefore more "costly". They are also perceived to have lower economic, social and religious value than sons. Boys are preferred because they can perform certain ritual and ceremonial duties that girls - owing to religious customs - cannot.

This deeply entrenched cultural preference for sons has made way for the easy availability of sex-selective abortions across India, though the practice is banned.

The cost of an illegal ultrasound and abortion is $12, but it is $5,000 to marry off a daughter.

In some instances, families consult "quack doctors" who provide various medicines to ensure a son. These dubious treatments can end up endangering the health of the expectant mother and child.

The shortage of women in some parts of India has created a trade where women are brought from other areas of the country to become wives.