Its largely cultural, and unfortunately I can never give you a complete context behind these issues. Being a parent of a girl child is difficult in India. Right from birth you will face constant discrimination, every single part of the society will make all attempts to keep your child the weaker gender.

These days its still a lot better. A few decades back, the society would have big problems with as simple a thing like teaching a girl how to read/write. Then came the society's opposition towards women working. That's how backward these people are.