Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors
Missing Females
Context: Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released the State of the World Population 2020 report, titled ‘Against my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality’.
What do you mean by Missing females?
The term “missing women” indicates a shortfall in the number of women relative to the expected number of women in a region or country
It is generally caused by sex-selective abortions, female infanticide, and inadequate healthcare and nutrition for female children.
It is argued that technologies that enable prenatal sex selection, which have been commercially available since the 1970s, are a large impetus for missing female children
The phenomenon was first noted by the Indian Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen
State of World Population 2020 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
The number of “missing women” has more than doubled over the past 50 years – from 61 million in 1970 to a cumulative 142.6 million in 2020.
India accounted for 45.8 million missing females as of 2020
According to one analysis, gender-biased sex selection accounts for about two-thirds of the total missing girls, and post-birth female mortality accounts for about one-third
India has the highest rate of excess female deaths, 13.5 per 1,000 female births, which suggests that an estimated one in nine deaths of females below the age of 5 may be attributed to postnatal sex selection.
In India, around 460,000 girls went missing at birth, which means they were not born due to sex-selection biases, each year between 2013 and 2017.
India (40%) along with China (50%) account for around 90% of the estimated 1.2 million girls lost annually to female foeticide.
Preference to boy child often leads to “marriage squeeze”, where prospective grooms outnumber prospective brides > Will lead to child marriages
Harmful practices against girls cause profound and lasting trauma – female genital mutilation, child marriage, and extreme bias against daughters in favour of sons.
Covid-19 Induced Challenges:
The economic disruptions and income-loss because of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase violence against girls and women due to intensified unwantedness of daughters and gender discrimination.
The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the progress made in ending some harmful practices worldwide.
In India, Covid-19 has reduced access to contraception and abortion services, which is likely to lead to an increase in unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Way Ahead
The problem should be tackled by eliminating the root causes, especially gender-biased norms.
Focus on keeping girls in school longer and teach them life skills and to engage men and boys in social change.
Provision of cash transfers conditional on school attendance; or support to cover the costs of school fees, books, uniforms and supplies.
Successful cash-transfer initiatives such as ‘Apni Beti Apna Dhan’ should be widened in its reach & capacity
Campaigns that celebrate women’s progress and achievements may resonate more where daughter-only families can be shown to be prospering
Countries that have ratified international treaties such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have a duty to end the harm, whether it’s inflicted on girls by family members, religious communities or by States themselves
Value Addition – AboutUnited Nations Population Fund
It is a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly and works as a sexual and reproductive health agency.
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) establishes its mandate.
It was established as a trust fund in 1967 and began operations in 1969.
In 1987, it was officially renamed the United Nations Population Fund but the original abbreviation, ‘UNFPA’ for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities was retained.
UNFPA is not supported by the UN budget, instead, it is entirely supported by voluntary contributions of donor governments, intergovernmental organizations, the private sector, foundations and individuals.
UNFPA works directly to tackle Sustainable Development Goal on health(SDG3), Education (SDG4) and gender equality (SDG5)
