Gendercide: The Dangers of Being a Girl
The cost of being a woman in the world can be deadly as we saw with the death of Mahsa Amini – a 22-year-old Iranian woman detained by morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab correctly. She died after falling into a coma while in police custody. Protests are ongoing.
It is the most recent case that has resurfaced the debate around gender equality everywhere.
Progress toward gender equality is “vanishing before our eyes,” United Nations Secretary General António Guterres told the Commission on the Status of Women earlier this month.
It’s called gendercide or sex-selective abortion.
While there seem to be higher rates of gendercide in Asian countries – in 2020 Canadian MP Cathay Wagantall introduced a Sex-Selective abortion act (bill c-233) in the House of Commons It was a proposed law that would make it illegal for a doctor or practitioner to perform an abortion simply because of the sex of the child. It was voted down.
While a recent report by Pew Research Centre states the ratio of baby girls to boys in some areas of India is starting to normalize slowly, many advocates ask at what cost?
Today on Context, Gendercide: The Dangers of Being a Girl.
