The case of "missing" women

2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Oct 29: Reproductive health experts from more than 40 countries are exploring a strategy to bring down the number of India's "missing daughters".
According to an estimate, there are 50 million "missing women" in India, almost half of the total number of "missing women" all over the world. Missing women are those who are literally not alive due to family neglect, discrimination, foeticide and dowry deaths.
As against the world's average of 990 women for every 1,000 men, India has a sex ratio of 933 women for every 1000 men. This in other words means, for every 1000 male babies born there are 67 "missing girls". And this number goes up if the female infanticide, female foeticide, maternal deaths and dowry deaths are also included. In some regions of India, the sex ratio is even more greatly distorted. In part of the states of Bihar and Rajasthan, the female-male ratio is 600 to 1,000.
Experts attending the fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights here on Monday expressed serious concern over the ever increasing number of "missing women".
"One of the most alarming changes in Asia’s population dynamics in recent decades has been a dramatic increase in the proportion of males within its local populations. Unfortunately, these changes were not identified immediately, due to lack of data. A new phenomenon was underway: sex ratio at birth was – and is – tilting towards boys, in a way that had never before been recorded. Indeed, if the continent’s overall sex ratio was the same as elsewhere in the world, in 2005 Asia’s population would have included almost 163 million more women and girls," says a report, by United Nations Population Fund, presented at the conference.
Experts warn that with income and education not being protective, more girls are likely to go missing with continued modernisation and upward economic growth. With the family sizes falling, Asians have increasingly used ultrasound or amniocentesis to determine the sex of foetuses and aborted unwanted females. The resulting skewed sex ratios at birth have been noticeable in India, with the number of boys per 100 girls going up to 120 in some States.
"In many cases, girls are missing because they are murdered at birth, or never allowed to be born. Between three million and five million female foetuses are aborted in India each year. The country records 10,000 cases of female infanticide every year. More over the risk of dying between ages one and five is 43 per cent higher for girls than for boys," the experts point out.

The steady tilting of sex ratio towards boys in India will cause shortage of brides

2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Oct 29: The steady tilting of sex ratio towards boys in India will lead to a severe catastrophic effect on the reproductive health of the nation including acute shortage of potential brides.

The United Nations Population Fund, which presented its study on the projected demographic position in India for 2050, at fourth Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights here on Monday, pointed out that the ramifications of such an imbalance would not only continue for decades, but would affect an enormous proportion of the Indian population.

"While men of marriageable age will suddenly find a dramatic shortage of potential brides, it is girls and women of all ages who will truly feel the brunt," it said forecasting increases in gender-based violence, trafficking, discrimination and general vulnerability of women and girls.

The study attributed the shortfall in women to a "deeply rooted preference for sons, which leads parents across cultures and geographic locations to decide against allowing a girl to live, even before her birth, and the increasing availability of technology that enables them to do so with ease".

According to the study, the proportion of boys in India’s child population has been on the rise for the past twenty years, in a way that parallels the experience of other Asian countries, such as China or South Korea. For the most part, this development has been caused by the increasing practice of sex selection, which has led to unusually high values of the sex ratio at birth.

"India’s system of gender discrimination has moved from a regime characterised by high fertility, female infanticide and excess child mortality among girls, to a modern regime based on prenatal sex selection. At the same time, the significant variations in sex ratio at birth point to the interplay of social, cultural and economic factors in gender preferences," it said.

Presenting the study, UNFPA deputy executive director Purnima Mane said it was crucial to examine the underlying factors behind the recent reduction in the proportion of female children, distinguishing between the supply-and demand-side factors.

She said sex selection was most prevalent in urban areas amongst higher economic quintiles, and even for these groups the practice continued to be fuelled by a patriarchal structure that believed in, values and promoted son preference.

The report warned that while sex selection is particularly prevalent in Northwest India, the ideologies and social structures that give rise to this practice could easily spread to other areas, as is already taking place.

It suggested a fight against gender discrimination, investment in addressing socio-economic constraints that limit the ability of girls to lead a life of equal opportunity; publicity on future hardships for families and communities based on imbalance sex ratio; making eliminating sex selection an immediate priority for government and civil society.