Gender Imbalance on a Global Scale
Looking at the issue of gender imbalance is commonplace in modern discussions regarding workplace ratios and wages, however talks of disparities in the literal population is not a frequent one.
Inequality, imbalance, gap, discrimination are all terms used regarding gender, which is one of the main categories by which people are divided. Ever since birth, but actually even before that, people are defined by their gender; this actually determinates that their life will likely follow a specific path and have a certain outline.
It is well known that, throughout history, women have suffered from extensive discrimination and violence being controlled and considered weak. What results from this is a variety of issues that are probably too many to count. One of them, that has been battling its way to be in the first spots of what seems like an endless list, is gender imbalance.
The first definition one will find of gender imbalance is that it is a phenomenon that concerns the number of males and females in a country’s population. In particular, it refers to the gap between those numbers and it is becoming more and more a cause for concern in many countries. It is not unusual that population numbers and particularly the proportion of males to females shift in time, on the contrary there are a lot of natural factors that provoke the change, however there are also other factors at play.
According to the Human Rights Watch there is an increasing shortage of women worldwide (Stauffer, 2019). Even two of the most populated countries, China and India have registered a decrease in the total number of women and a significant increase in male population. The consistent difference may not come as a surprise, but it certainly reached a new level, which, as stated by the Washington Post in 2018, is indeed unprecedented.
As stated before, at the basis of these reasons for the disparity in number, there is gender discrimination. From laws that aim to regulate women’s reproduction, to family heir preferences to selective abortion in the case of unwanted pregnancies (if it’s not a boy), it becomes clear that this growing disparity is very much a man-made phenomenon. Specifically, it has been since the late 20th century that the practice of selective abortion spread considerably, and it has become one of the main causes leading to the gender gap.
In many countries, especially in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa there is an enduring “son preference” mainly because they have a higher wage earning capacity as opposed to females, they continue the family line and are generally the recipients of inheritance (Hesketh, Xing, 2006). This entails the spread of the aforementioned selective abortion or alternatively to female infanticide, abandonment of new-born girls or neglection of daughters. These practices are especially common in countries where poverty dominates or in others, like China, where laws regulating the number of children per family apply, in this case the One Child Policy introduced in 1979. A lower female population is also due to higher female mortality, that aside from resulting from discrimination and neglection, it is also due to increasing violence against women and phenomena like femicide. In spite of various governments issuing laws against techniques like that of selective abortion, the problem is yet to be eradicated. The consequences of this issue are widespread and result in disruptions in society, including acts of violence and an eventual threat to society’s stability itself.
What is really depressing and alarming is that this whole of the gender gap will only contribute to breeding gender discrimination and hatred and violence towards women. Unequal rights, unequal opportunities, unequal wages, unequal treatment, unequal place in society, even today, in 2021, all these things are a reality. Women are still oppressed, controlled and dismissed, whole generations might pass while waiting for equality for all and the phenomenon of gender imbalance clearly does not help.
Nevertheless, as all problems, even this one has a solution; it may not be as straightforward and as easy to achieve as others, but it is possible to find. First of all, governments must take action, some already have, but they still have not achieved the desired result due to lack of regulation and monitoring. Being realistic, it certainly is not conceivable to resolve it all in a short time span, a long process is required. However, some small results are already visible, for example in South Korea has almost balanced the male and female population since strict enforcement for selective abortion was applied in 1991. Other solutions include increasing public awareness all over the world, but what is really indispensable is a change of mindset and to put an end to discriminations and to gender roles which preclude women from being considered equal to men.
Written by Francesca Travaglio.
