Missing Women
- Sarah Baek
- Oct 17, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 15, 2022
Red represents more women, blue represents more men, and purple represents a similar ratio of the world population over the age of 65, by country in 2013.
100 million missing women, a truly striking number.
First created by Amartya Sen in 1990, the phrase “missing women,” according to the State of World Population 2020 report, refers to “those whose numbers are reflected in sex ratio imbalances at birth as a result of gender-biased (prenatal) sex selection, combined with excess female mortality stemming from postnatal sex selection.”
Logically, women live longer than men, so there should be more women than men in a population. While this logic holds in Britain, France and the US with 105 women per 100 men, Sen found that there were 94 women in China and Bangladesh, and 90 in Pakistan, for 100 men. These imbalances added up to approximately 100 million.
Both deliberate prenatal sex selection and postnatal nutritional and health deprivations against women and female children are caused by cultural mechanisms of inherent bias toward male children in many of these countries.
In the case of adults, the lower bargaining power of women in household decisions contributes to a shortfall. According to Sen, cooperation in adding resources and conflict in the division of resources define the relations among the household. For example, if an unmarried woman received a wage for housekeeping, then the labour is counted into national income. However, once married, she becomes part of the household — despite doing the same job of a housekeeper as before, her labour is no longer counted in the national income. Thus, she becomes an ‘unproductive housewife.’ Given this, when women, whose fallback position is dependent on her husband, lack recognition of personal interest and distribution of resources within the household, gender inequalities continue.
The relative economic unimportance of females leads to many missing female children. Especially in less privileged families, according to Sen, sex-selective abortions and lower survival rates are greater among female children due to “high priority given for men in terms of medical care and food.” This is because boys are more prized in these regions in having a more “economically productive future” than girls. While daughters functionally become the property of their husbands’ families, parents can expect much more help and support from their sons as they grow older.
Unfortunately, the consequences do not just affect women.
According to the State of World Population 2020 report, “sex selection can distort the composition of a country’s population for generations.” What is more, such effects of “sex ratio imbalances perpetuate gender inequality and problems of gender-based violence, which are all human rights violations.
Furthermore, female discrimination and neglect affect societal health. The nutritional and health deprivations of pregnant women lead to low birth weight for male as well as female babies. Medical studies prove a correlation between low birth weight and cardiovascular disease at later stages of life.
However, as seen in South Korea from the late 2000s, the decline of son preferences has been interpreted as the last phase of a complex cycle called “sex ratio transition.”
Recognising the effects, many economists and international organisations point to a few general policy solutions, regardless of cultural variations.
Creating employment opportunities will increase women’s bargaining power in household decisions. Sen argues that Sub-Saharan Africa’s fewer missing women is possible due to women who can earn income outside the home. This increases her household contributions and positively affects the view on the value of women compared to that of East Asia. Also, economist Nancy Qian found in her 2008 study “that increases in female-specific economic productivity boosted both survival of and investment in female children.”
Furthermore, international organisations play an integral role. For example, Rajasthan, India, was one of the worst affected areas worldwide. By 2005, the sex ratio had declined to 900 girls born for every 1,000 boys. However, in recent years, the sex ratio climbed from 939 in 2004 to 939 in 2016. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems and Community Based Response groups’ efforts in conducting women’s empowerment activities and highlighting the value of female children had played an integral role in this story.
In 2021, many nations’ sex ratios are returning to natural rates. However, the effects of missing women occur over decades, thus economists and citizens should be aware of such numbers that, according to Sen, “tell us, quietly, a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to excess mortality of women.”
References
A Little History of Economics, by Niall Kishtainy
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