Gendercide

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Gendercide is the systematic killing of members of a specific sex.^[1]

Gendercide is reported to be a rising problem in several countries. Census statistics report that in countries such as China and India, the male to female ratio is as high as 120 men for every 100 women.^[2] In addition to sex-selective abortion, gendercide also takes the forms of infanticide, and lethal violence against a particular gender at any stage of life.

Origin of the term

The term gendercide was first coined by American feminist Mary Anne Warren in her 1985 book, Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection. It refers to gender-selective mass killing. Warren drew "an analogy between the concept of genocide" and what she called "gendercide". In her book, Warren wrote:

By analogy, gendercide would be the deliberate extermination of persons of a particular sex (or gender). Other terms, such as "gynocide" and "femicide," have been used to refer to the wrongful killing of girls and women. But "gendercide" is a sex-neutral term, in that the victims may be either male or female. There is a need for such a sex-neutral term, since sexually discriminatory killing is just as wrong when the victims happen to be male. The term also calls attention to the fact that gender roles have often had lethal consequences, and that these are in important respects analogous to the lethal consequences of racial, religious, and class prejudice.^[3]

Femicide

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Femicide is defined as the systematic killing of women for various reasons, usually cultural. The word is attested from the 1820s.^[4] According to the United Nations, the biologically normal gender ratio at birth ranges from 102 to 106 males per 100 females. However, ratios higher than normal – sometimes as high as 130 – have been observed. This is now causing increasing concern in some South Asian, East Asian, and Central Asian countries.^[5] Such disparities almost always reflect a preference for boys as a result of deeply embedded social, cultural, political and economic factors. Organizations such as All Girls Allowed, the United Nations, and Amnesty International have all spoken out in favor of efforts to end gender-selected abortions.

The most widespread form of femicide is in the form of gender-selective infanticide in cultures with strong preferences for male offspring such as China and India. According to the United Nations, male-to-female ratios, which range from 102-106 boys for every 100 girls in normal circumstances, have experienced radical changes.^[6] Countries with high populations of immigrants, especially from Asian countries are also experiencing a rise in gender-selected abortions targeting females. Among the countries that have the highest levels of infanticide are China, India, Taiwan, etc.^[7]

China’s culture has a strong preference for males. Because of their one-child policy, couples will selectively abort females until the desired male is conceived. Only five females are born for every six males in China. Gender-selected abortions are particularly a problem in regions of China where the one-child policy is more severely implemented. In 2005, there were 32 million more men than women under 20 in China. In 2007, the national government estimated that China has 37 million more males than females. By 2020, the Chinese government estimates that there will be at least 30 million men of marriageable age that may be unable to find a spouse.

Sex Ratios at birth over time in China:^[8]

• 106:100 in 1979 (106 boys for every 100 girls)
• 111:100 in 1988
• 117:100 in 2001
• 120:100 in 2005

In India, male children are preferred because the parents are looking for heirs who will take care of them in their old age. Additionally, the cost of a dowry, the price the family has to pay for their daughter to be married off, is very high in India; while a male heir would bring a dowry to the family by way of marriage. According to the British publication, The Independent, the 2011 census revealed 7.1 million fewer girls than boys aged under the age of seven, up from 6 million in 2001 and from 4.2 million in 1991. The sex ratio in the age group is now 915 girls to 1,000 boys, the lowest since records began in 1961.^[9]

Over 160 million females have been eliminated from Asia’s population owing to sex selective abortion.^[10]

There have been reports of femicide in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico.^[11] The murders in Juarez are also known as las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"). According to the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: the victims of these crimes have mostly been young women, between 12 and 22 years of age. Many were students, and most were maquiladora [manufacturing] workers. A number were relative newcomers to Ciudad Juárez who had migrated from other areas of Mexico. The victims were generally reported missing by their families, with their bodies found days or months later abandoned in vacant lots, outlying areas or in the desert. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, torment, torture or in some cases disfigurement.^[12] According to Amnesty International as of February 2005 more than 370 young women and girls had been murdered in the cities of Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.^[13]

More recently, prosecutors from the state of Chihuahua reported that in 2010, 270 women were killed within the state, of these murders 247 occurred in Juarez. In 2011, Chihuahua's Attorney General, Carlos Manuel Salas, announced during a briefing in August 2011 that 222 women had been killed in Chihuahua since January of that year. Of these 222 murders, 130 of them occurred in Ciudad Juarez.^[14]

Androcide

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Androcide is the systematic killing of men for various reasons, usually cultural. Androcide may happen during war to reduce an enemy's potential pool of soldiers.

Examples include the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurdish males that were considered “battle-aged” (or approximately ages 15–50)^[15][16] in Iraqi Kurdistan. While many of these deaths took place after the Kurdish men were captured and processed at concentration camp, the worst instances of the gendercide happened at the end of the campaign (August 25-September 6, 1988).

Another incident of androcide was the Srebrenica massacre of approximately 8,000 Bosniak men and boys on July 12, 1995, ruled as an act of genocide by the International Court of Justice.^[17][18] From the morning of 12 July, Serb forces began gathering men and boys from the refugee population in Potočari and holding them in separate locations, and as the refugees began boarding the buses headed north towards Bosniak-held territory, Serb soldiers separated out men of military age who were trying to clamber aboard. Occasionally, younger and older men were stopped as well (some as young as 14 or 15).^[19][20][21]

See also

• Female foeticide in India
• Femicide in China
• Genocide
• Honor killing
• Missing women of Asia
• Witch-hunt

References

Further reading

• A comprehensive analysis of gendercide in China was delivered by author Talia Carner at the 2007 U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
• Warren, Mary Anne (1985). Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection. Rowman & Allanheld. ISBN 0-8476-7330-8. 
• Russell, Diana E.H., ed.; Roberta A. Harmes (2001). Femicide in Global Perspective. Teachers College Press. ISBN 0-8077-4047-0. 
• Sanford, Victoria (2008). Guatemala : Del Genocidio Al Feminicidio/From Genocide to Femicide. F&G Editores. ISBN 99922-61-88-9. 

External links

• Femicide in Guatemala--Guernica Magazine (guernicamag.com)
• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Situation of the Rights of Women in Ciudad Juárez (2002) — Report by OAS human rights agency.
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Graduate Research " Juarez Mothers Fight Femicide Documentary" (March 2005)
• The Economist - No place for your daughters (November 24, 2005)
• Lourdes Portillo Video, Señorita Extraviada ISDN 0807861731 2001

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