WUNRN
DAWN - Development Alternatives with
Women for a New Era
PREVENTING GENDER-BIASED SEX
SELECTION
Direct Link to Full 28-Page
Document:
A UN Interagency statement that provides a balanced approach to addressing
gender-biased sex selection, has been released. Key UN agencies – WHO, UNFPA,
UNICEF, UNHCR and UNWomen – collaboratively produced this statement. DAWN
Executive Committee member, Gita Sen provided a background paper
'Gender
Biased Sex Selection.
Direct Link to Full 25-Page Briefing
Paper:
Website Link for Introduction:
GENDER BIASED SEX SELECTION: KEY
ISSUES FOR ACTION
|
By
Gita Sen |
|
Introduction
This
discursive paper is intended to spell out the key issues, concerns, and
challenges facing evidence-based policies and actions to address the practice
of sex selection, in contexts where persistent gender discrimination and bias
against girls and women provide a major impetus for the practice. The
evidence on which the paper is based is mainly derived from parts of East and
South-Central Asia, where the practice is significant, and has been raising
concern among governments, international agencies, and civil society. The
paper does not focus per se on the practice of sex selection for family
balancing purposes, which is known to exist in other parts of the world,
although it makes some remarks about the need to sort out the evidence of
gender biased versus non gender biased sex selection. The time dimension of
the paper is the period of the last three decades when the practice has
become numerically significant, although it draws upon earlier historical and
ethnographic evidence to highlight some critical aspects of causes and
consequences. Its principal intention is not to provide an exhaustive review
of either the literature or the evidence, but to identify key elements that
are important to guide policies and actions for the future. It also
points to gaps in the evidence and analysis that need to be filled in as soon
as possible. While the paper draws on evidence from different countries, most
of the discussion of issues reflects on the Indian experience largely because
of the availability of material in English, and because of my own familiarity
with the evidence and the context. |