The March 6 issue of the Economist highlighted the problem of gendercide – the “disappearance” of an estimated 100 million baby girls, either killed, aborted or neglected. Three factors were cited:
• the traditional preference for sons
• a modern desire for smaller families (including China’s one-child policy)
• technologies that identify the sex of a foetus (such as ultrasound scanning)
Distorted sex ratios are unbalancing societies in many parts of the world. In China and northern India for example, for children born in the early 2000s, the imbalance has risen to 120 boys to 100 girls born. Similar tendencies can be found in other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, and in former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus. Wealth does not seem to be a factor; within China and India the areas with the worst ratios are the richest, best-educated ones.
When these children reach maturity, a shortage of brides will be evident. China for example will have as many unmarried young men as the entire population of young men in America. In many countries, rootless young males are associated with higher crime rates, bride trafficking and sexual violence. A study in China shows that higher sex ratios accounted for about one-seventh of the rise in crime.
Only South Korea has managed to reverse its cultural preference for sons. Female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings made “son preference” seem old-fashioned and unnecessary. Concerned countries should therefore promote actions that raise the value of girls through the encouragement of female education, the engagement of women in public life and the abolishment of laws and customs that prevent daughters inheriting property.
Is gender preference an issue in your country? What actions could IFUW together with its NFAs and other NGOs take to help protect baby girls in the regions concerned?
Much attention is given to the gender pay gap, but one hears much less about the increasing gender pension gap – a growing problem in most countries.
The traditional family model, with men supporting the family and women caring for the household, is no longer realistic. Women today most often share the role of provider with men. Yet, men have not taken on an equivalent share of responsibility for domestic tasks. In Mexico, for example, in families where both partners have paid jobs, men spend 52 hours a week on paid work and 12.5 hours on domestic chores, while women spend 37 hours at work and 38.5 hours on domestic chores.
Recent Comments