A recent article was posted on Forbes – “What Are We Doing About The Issue Of Missing Women In 2021?
The State of World Population 2020 report indicates that the number of “missing women” has more than doubled over the past 50 years, rising from 61 million in 1970 to an estimated 142.6 million in 2020. According to the report, two countries, China and India, together account for 90-95% of the estimated missing female births worldwide, caused by gender-biased (prenatal) sex selection. China, with an estimated 72.3 million and India with an estimated 45.8 million.
The devaluation of women’s lives does not stop with sex selection prenatally. The issue of “missing women” has wide ranging consequence throughout their lives. Sex selection can distort the composition of a country’s population for generations. Over time, these skewed ratios translate into missing girls, missing women and missing elderly women. The effects of sex ratio imbalances ripple throughout societies and perpetuate the gender inequality that led to them in the first place.”
Furthermore, sex ratio imbalances exacerbate problems of gender-based violence, marriage squeeze, sex trafficking and child marriage—all of which are human rights violations.” Hence again, it does not stop at sex selection. Violations against women and girls continue throughout their lives, reinforcing gender inequalities.
In order to address the issue, it is not enough to introduce laws that prohibit such practices. Indeed, in many countries, such sex selection is already prohibited, but nonetheless, it continues to be used. We must also educate people on the inherent value of human life, gender equality and break with stereotypes or ancient practices that devalue women (including the practice of dowry). In 2021, we should not accept practices that say that a men’s life is worth more than women’s life. Any other position harms whole societies for generations.
Link: https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA_PUB_2020_EN_State_of_World_Population.pdf
