SI UN Representative, Paris, Evelyne Para, reports.
“Today, we are more than 7.7 billion people all over the world. For cultural, economic or social reasons, men are more and more numerous, to the detriment of women. In some parts of the world, it is not good to be a woman, and the birth of a girl is not celebrated in the same way as that of a boy. In this article, I look at which countries are most impacted by this imbalance. How to explain it? And look at the consequences.
In 2015, according to the United Nations (UN), the sex ratio (the ratio between the number of men and women) in the world stood at around 102 men per 100 women – in other words, out of 1,000 people, 504 were men (50.4%), and 496 were women (49.6%). However, if we take this rate at birth, the gap is accentuated, with 105 newborn boys per 100 girls, according to the World Health Organization. The world is now beginning to face a ‘shortage’ of women of reproductive age, which could eventually lead to demographic imbalances with perhaps, serious consequences. We now have an ageing global population, and moreover, it continues to grow. By 2050, the Earth should have nine billion inhabitants.
The population’s masculinization varies by region of the world. It was first in Asia that the proportion of boys began to increase amongst newborns in the early 1980s, as advances in science were made, together with methods of prenatal testing. And it is in India and China, which together account for 37% of the world’s population, that the imbalance is the most worrying.
Today, the two most populous countries in the world suffer from a lack of women. Reasons for this are diverse, beginning with customs, religious beliefs or economic considerations, however, for several decades, China and India have had a “sex ratio” that is significantly higher than average – in some areas it exceeds 120 boys per 100 girls. In these two countries, with a total population of 2.76 billion people, there are around 80 million more men than the average, and more than half are under 20 years of age. In other Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Nepal or Pakistan, the number of boys also exceeds that of girls by more than 10%. Asian and Indian populations of the diasporas show the same trend, whether they are located in England, Italy, Norway or Greece… Eastern Europe is not left out, even though it weighs less in the demographic balance.
In China, 35 years of “single-child” government policy had resulted in the disappearance of millions of girls through selective abortions or infanticide at birth (the killing of newborn girls). The promotion of this policy in force until 2015, as well as the gradual development of ultrasound techniques, caused harm to the female gender, with parents often preferring to give birth to a son (the “child-emperors”). Furthermore, if it is necessary to choose, a family will keep the boy who, in the Confucian tradition, will be the one to succeed the parents and perpetuate ancestors’ cult. According to the Asian Center for Human Rights, about 1.5 million female foetuses are thus always eliminated each year.
In India and Pakistan, giving birth to a girl can be a burden for the family. A boy, however, is seen to provide help and safety to his parents and as such, a newborn girl is often killed just born. An under-reported crime, the effects of which significantly reduce the female population, mainly in the north of India. Women face barriers in speaking out against this custom, and with little access to education, a girls’ destiny is often to be married and owe obedience to her husband.
The consequences of imbalance
A mixture of cultural preferences, government policies and uses of modern medical technologies in the two largest countries in the world, has created gender imbalance at a continent’s scale. China and India currently have a global women’s deficit of about 160 million. The number of “missing women” could reach 225 million by 2025. In the long term, if the proportion of girls/boys continues to be so unbalanced, it’s a whole section of the population that won’t be renewed. Nothing like this has happened in human history!
The consequences of too many men, now major, will be suffered for many years: beyond an epidemic of loneliness (94% of single people aged 28 to 49 in China are men), this imbalance distorts labour markets, increases saving rates and lowers consumption. These consequences are not limited to China and India, but deeply affect their Asian neighbours and also slow down economies of Europe and the Americas.
At the same time, the surplus of single men exacerbates trafficking in human beings, both for the importation of wives and for prostitution. There has been an increase in mail-order marriages (arranged or forced marriages with women coming from abroad), especially in China. Public safety has also deteriorated with a sharp rise in violence, sexual crimes and the growth of schoolgirls harassment on the way to school.
In conclusion, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that the rights of women and girls are recognised everywhere in the world. More than ever, NGO partners of international Agencies, representatives of civil society and feminist associations must continue to fight relentlessly against obscurantism, against injustices and gender discriminations, which generate tens of millions of broken lives, stolen destinies, and a world deprived of so many promises. More than ever, we need strong and lasting political will, putting forward equitable and inclusive public policies, especially in the field of education. For women and girls to have access to education that gives them real opportunities to challenge and change unequal power relations, to attack practices, norms, and expectations that prevent them from reaching their full potential. An education that builds a real “GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable” all over the world (https://en.unesco.org/news/meet-girlforce-around-world-advancing-girls-and-womens-education), training generations of girls, teenage girls and free women, “unstoppable” women who are transforming lives, societies and the world!
Sources
https://information.tv5monde.com/terriennes/77-milliards-d-etres-humains-mais-combien-de-femmes-2547
https://www.hrw.org/fr/world-report/2019/country-chapters/325970
https://www.genreenaction.net/Il-manque-100-millions-de-femmes-en-Inde-et-en.html
https://fr.sputniknews.com/international/201711281034083139-penurie-chine-hommes-epouse/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/world/too-many-men/?noredirect=on
This is very discerning. Thank you for this very interesting article.
Evelyne, thank you for this excellent blog and resource.