Population

(Toronto Star: March 4, 1992)

By Irene Sege

There should be more women in the world. That's not an opinion. It's a statistical reality, a distrbmg insight that seemingly dry demographic tables offer into the bleak status of women in many parts of the world. Even though more boys are born than girls, population specialists say, females are hardier and have a of greater chance of survival at virtually every age and a longer life expectancy. The majority of the world's population should be female. Yet there are more men than women.

Demographic experts believe the absence of tens of milllons of women from the world's population reflects a continued preference for male children in parts of Asia - induding China and India, home to almost half the world's people - so strong that daughters have a significantly lower chance of surviving than sons. New statistics suggest 60 million women are missing; an earlier estimate put the number at 100 milion. While the killing of newborn girls is not believed to be the widespread practice it once was, young girls appear to be dying of neglect.

Some studies show daughters receiving less food, as measured by caloric intake, than sons. Others have found parents more likely to seek medical care for boys. There is evidence, too, that in some places ultrasound or prenatal genetic tests are being used to determine gender. and female fetuses are being aborted. Despite recent progress in improving women's life expectancy in India, the female-to-male ratio is lower now than it was in 1901. In China, after decades of improvement, the gender ratio among young children in the 1990 census once again suggests an unnaturally low number of girls.

"There are clearly cultural patterns operating and operatlng in very complicated ways to favor young boys rather than young girls" says Joann Vanek, co-ordinator of the gender statistics program at the United Nations Statistical Office. In developed countries, where lower fertility means proportionately fewer children and better medical care leads to longer lives, there are roughly 106 women for every 100 men. In Canada, the United States, England and France, the U.N. reports 105 women for every 100 men. In the Commonwealth of Independent States, there are 111 females for every 100 males. In developing nations, higher fertility and shorter life expectancy combine to give these countries younger populations that should still reflect the fact that more boys are born than girls.

In Africa and Latin America, in fact, the numbers of males and females are roughly equal. It is in Asia that a different pattern emerges. Many Asian countries have fewer than 95 women for every 100 men. In China, there are 94.3 for every 100 men, in India 93.5, in Pakistan 92.1, in Afghanistan 94.5, in Bangladesh 94.1. Some countries - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain - have low proportions of women because of the large number of immigrant men who come to take jobs in their oil fields. But immigration does not explain the statistics in China and southern Asia.

In China, a marked change followed the introduction of the one-child policy in 1979. Both the 1982 and 1990 censuses showed disturbing - and worsening - changes in the gender ratio at the youngest ages, says Judith Banister, chief of the China branch ofthe U.S. Census Bureau.

Some suggest that girls are seriously under-counted because families simply are not reporting the births of daughters. But, Banister contends, other evidence indicates that girls are not just under-counted but truly missing, possibly through some combination of neglect, infanticide or abortion. Between 1953 and 1982, female infanticide in China virtually ceased and the ratio of boys to girls in infancy was close to noranal. But as children got older,girls suffered higher mortality and the gender ratio became unbalanced, a sign of girls "being discriminated against in ways that are life threatening."

Suspicions of infanticide, sex-selected abortions and early neglect resurfaced with the 1982 census and worsened with the 1990 census. The ratios remained constant with the 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds counted in 1990 showing virtually the same sex ratio as the infants of 1982. To Banister, this suggests that the girls are truly missing, not just under-counted.

In India, girls fare worse in places where their long-term contribution to family life is minimal. In northern India they marry outside their village, taking dowries to their husbands' families and leaving their own parents. In southern India however, there is marrying between cousins and girls maintain contact with their families. These cultural differences are reflected in gender ratios. In the northern Indian state of Punjab, there are 86 females for every 100 males. In Kerala in southern India, the ratio is 103 females for every 100 males.

Statistics show there should be more females in the world.

Back to Other Population Control Programs