The lost woman

Three billion people in the world live on less than $2 a day. \nWomen, in many cases, must bear a double burden – one of poverty, and one of the societal beliefs and practices that reflect the brutal reality of the world. A woman’s life isn’t quite worth that of a man’s. \nAccording to one United Nations estimate, 113 to 200 million women are “demographically missing” from the world today. That is to say, there should be 113 to 200 million more women walking the earth, who aren’t. \nBy that same estimate, 1.5 to 3 million women and girls lose their lives every year because of gender-based neglect or gender-based violence. \nYou can point a finger at poverty. But poverty alone does not result in these women’s deaths; the blame also falls on the attitudes of the societies these women inhabit. \nWhen a family doesn’t have enough to eat, women will sacrifice their shares for the sakes of their male relatives – willingly or not. When a poor tenant farmer has an ill son and ill daughter, but can only afford treatment for one, the son will be taken to the doctor over the daughter. \nThese practices can’t necessarily be quantified, but their effects certainly can. Take South Asia, which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal – it accounts for the bulk of all maternal mortality deaths in the world. Sixty percent of the women of childbearing age in this part of the world are malnourished. \nOften, they are given larger shares of work, smaller amounts of food, and don’t have control over the most basic decisions regarding their health care. \nIn this part of the world alone, 2.3 million babies die preventable deaths every year. Those children would live if their mothers received better obstetric health care. In glaring contrast, the U.N. Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance.”\nEven more horrific than these numbers is the number of unborn females that are aborted due to selective sex abortion and the number of baby girls that become victims of infanticide. \nChina alone accounts for 50 million of the girls who are “missing” due to these practices. The one child only policy, coupled with the apparently higher value placed on sons, has resulted in incredibly skewed gender ratios in many parts of the country. In some provinces there are 120 to 130 males for every 100 females – the “natural” ratio is 104. Seven thousand fewer baby girls are born than boys every day in India. \nImagine the effect that trends such as these will have on future generations. \nI have only mentioned poverty- and neglect-related deaths along with selective sex abortion and female infanticide. \nThink about the women who become victims of domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking and the illegal sex trade, honor killings, dowry deaths and female genital mutilation. \nThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” \nWhen will the world begin to ensure these rights?