More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing Article by Nobel-Prize winning Economist Amartya Sen

100 Million Women are Missing

In Europe and North America, there has been a consistently high ratio of women to men. Currently the gender ratio is 1.05; that is, for every 100 men, there are 105 women living. In other parts of the word, this is not the case. In fact, Sen (1990) claims that overall there are only about 98 women to 100 men worldwide, and in some countries, the number may be below 90.

With equal access to food and medical care, women live noticeably longer than men. Despite this biological advantage, there are areas of the world, such as China, South Asia and North Africa, where women have a much higher rate of mortality than men. This raises questions about the types of gender inequalities that result in premature death of women and girls.

Amartya Sen wrote a paper in 1990 saying More Than 100 Million Women are Missing, “women who are simply not there due to unusually high female mortality compared with male mortality rates.” (Sen 2001). To understand the magnitude of the problem in high mortality regions, he calculated the number of women who are actually living compared with the number that one could expect if mortality rates were on par with Europe and North America. The missing women are those people who died prematurely due to neglect of nutrition or healthcare, or who were victims of gender bias before birth.

Visualizing 100 Million women In 1990 Sen estimated the number of missing women at 100 Million, ranking it among the worst human catastrophes in the 20th Century. Klasen and Wink note that this number of missing people is larger than: • All the combined famines in the 20th century • The death toll of World War I and II combined • The casualities from major epidemics, such as the 1919-20 global influenza epidemic or the current AIDS pandemic. In demographic terms, 100 Million missing women represents 70% of the current female population in the United States. (source: World Bank)

Causes of Mortality Inequality

Mortality Inequality is the term used to describe the higher rates of death among women and girls compared to men and boys. Higher rates of disease and mortality among women and girls are probably the result of a failure to give young girls and women medical care, food and social services, compared to that given to boys and men.

Much of the allocation of food and medical care is done within individual households. Families with scarce resources may choose to care for boy children over girls. In some regions boy children are valued more highly than girls. The reasons for this differential valuation are not fully understood, and can vary between cultures. However, they often include an expectation that boys will grow up to be wage earners or family workers, and may provide for their parents as they reach old age. By contrast, girls are less likely to earn an income, and a dowry system may mean that the household has to fund gifts for her husband, and his family, if she is to be married. Women's limited economic opportunities seem to be part of the reason for higher mortality amongst girls.

Klasen and Wink (2003) point out that the comparative neglect of female children is generally worse in rural areas and is particularly severe for later-born girls, and even worse for girls with elder sisters.

Gender Discrimination before Birth

In some societies, there is a preference by some parents to have boy children over girls and this bias can begin before birth. With the advent of current medical technology that allows prospective parents to determine the gender of their baby before birth, sex-selective abortions have become common in some areas, such as East and South Asia, especially China and some states in India.

Klasen and Wink (2003) highlight studies which show evidence of rising sex ratios at birth, showing that gender bias is increasingly extended before birth. China’s “one child” policy may also be increasing the number of sex-selective abortions.

Ways to reduce mortality inequality

When women are able to work outside the home, and bring in economic support, there is reduced female mortality. This means girls and women are seen as more valuable to the family unit and are less often discriminated against. Similarly, there is a correlation of lower female mortality when there is a higher female literacy rate and when women have the right to own property.

Free access to nutrition and health care reduces the need for households to ration scarce resources. Increased educational and employment opportunities for adult women can improve the situation for girls today.

How do women’s mortality rates change with increased globalization?

In many countries, global integration may reduce the role of the state in the economy, and be associated with reductions in health, education and social welfare expenditures. These changes may put new burdens on women, particularly poor women. Reductions in state expenditure, particularly in the areas of health, education and welfare, often increase the domestic work of maintaining the household and looking after children. These tasks are usually performed by women, who may be forced to work longer hours in order to replace state provision of education and health care. This puts the education and health of children in jeopardy and may put girl children at added risk.

References

Sen, A. (2001) "Many Faces of Gender Inequality ", The Frontline, October 27, 2001.

Sen, A. (1990). "More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing" New York Review of Books (12/20/90): 61-66.

Klasen and Wink, "Missing Women: Revisiting the Debate", (2003), Feminist Economics 9
(2-3): 263-299.

World Bank, Bank World Development Indicators CD-ROM