Stop Female Infanticide Now!

In many parts of the world, sex ratio is artificially skewed in favor of boy children. Recently, the number of males has increased and the number of females has decreased in China, India, Pakistan, and South Korea.

In many cases, girl children are so devalued that they are abandoned or killed at birth. Female, infanticide-the intentional killing of girl babies-has been widely documented in China and India, and is believed to be common in other Asian countries. Current technology allows women to know the gender of their fetuses before birth, and in many parts of the world, female fetuses are several times more likely to be aborted.

If they are allowed to live, girl children often receive little food and no health care or education-all of which are violations of girls' human rights. Because girls are less often educated than boys, two-thirds of the worlds illiterate adults are women. In many countries girls are more likely to become ill, but less likely to be taken to a doctor than their male counterparts. Discrimination against girl children manifests itself in a variety of more subtle ways as well. In some cultures, for example, although girl children may not be denied an education, they often receive less attention in school and are steered into stereotypical areas of study.

Discrimination against girl children is so deeply ingrained on an international level that it was nearly left out to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The convention was nearly opened for signature in 1990 containing only male pronouns: "she" and "her" had to be added at the last minute. Given this, it is perhaps not surprising that the convention often does not speak to the needs of girl children. For example, it does not address female genital mutilation, son preference, or early marriage-practices that impact girls more than boys.