According to one United Nations estimate, 113 to 200 million women are “demographically missing” from the world today. That is to say, there should be 113 to 200 million more women walking the earth, who aren’t. By that same estimate, 1.5 to 3 million women and girls lose their lives every year because of gender-based neglect or gender-based violence and Sexual Violence in Conflict. We can point a finger at poverty. But poverty alone does not result in these girls and women’s deaths and suffering; the blame also falls on the social system and attitudes of the societies. India alone accounts for more than 50 million of the women who are “missing” due to female foeticide - the sex-selective abortion of girls, dowry death, gender-based neglect and all forms of violence against women. The decline in the sex ratio and the millions of Missing Women are indicators of the feudal patriarchal resurgence. Violence against women has gone public – whether it is dowry murders, the practice of female genital mutilation, honour killings, sex selective abortions or death sentences awarded to young lovers from different communities by caste councils, rapes and killings in communal and caste violence, it is only women’s and human rights groups who are protesting – the public and institutional response to these trends is very minimal. Most of the values are insufficiently imagined and fundamentally flawed. More than two-thirds of the women’s populations don’t have access to the financial system. Poor women are not considered credit worthy. Every human being should have the “right to credit” because if people have money, they can change their lives. It is true for women. Nearly half the world’s population live in poverty, 70% are women. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Unite To End Violence Against Women! Educate & Empowered Women for a Happy Future !!!!!! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* www.un.org/womenwatch/ www.un.org/women/endviolence/ www.saynotoviolence.org/ www.unaids.org www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Photo: Firoz Ahmad Firoz

1. Violence against women
stands in direct contradiction
to the promise of the United
Nations Charter to “promote
social progress and better
standards of life in larger
freedom.” The consequences
go beyond the visible and
immediate. Death, injury,
medical costs and lost
employment are but the tip of
an iceberg. The impact on
women and girls, their
families, their communities
and their societies in terms of
shattered lives and livelihoods
is beyond calculation. Far too
often, crimes go unpunished,
and perpetrators walk free. No
country, no culture, no
woman, young or old, is
immune.
---Ban Ki-moon, March 2009
SocialGe graphic

2. According to one United
Nations estimate, 113 to 200
million women are
“demographically missing”
from the world today. That is
to say, there should be 113 to
200 million more women
walking the earth, who aren’t.
By that same estimate, 1.5 to
3 million women and girls
lose their lives every year
because of gender-based
neglect or gender-based
violence and Sexual Violence
in Conflict.

3. Still, every day,
more than
50,000 people
die as a result
of extreme
poverty and
nearly one
billion people
go hungry
each day, 70%
are women
and girls.

4. In addition to torture,
sexual violence and
rape by rebels and
occupation forces, a
great number of
women and girls are
kept locked up in their
homes by a very real
fear of abduction and
criminal abuse. In war
and conflicts, girls and
women have been
denied their human
right, including the
right to health,
education and
employment.

5. According to the UNAIDS
around 17.3 million, women
(almost half of the total number
of HIV-positive) living with HIV .
While HIV is often driven by
poverty, it is also associated
with inequality, gender-based
abuses and economic
transition. The relationship
between abuses of women's
rights and their vulnerability to
AIDS is alarming.
Violence and discrimination
prevents women from freely
accessing HIV/AIDS information,
from negotiating condom use,
and from resisting unprotected
sex with an HIV-positive partner,
yet most of the governments
have failed to take any
meaningful steps to prevent
and punish such abuse.

6. Millions of young women
disappear in their native land
every year. Many of them are
found later being held against
their will in other places and
forced into prostitution.
According to the UNICEF, Girls
between 13 and 18 years of age
constitute the largest group in the
sex industry. It is estimated that
around 500,000 girls below 18
are victims of trafficking each
year. The victims of trafficking
and female migrants are
sometimes unfairly blamed for
spreading HIV when the reality is
that they are often the victims.

7. United Nations agencies estimated that every year 3 million girls are at risk of
undergoing the procedure which involves the partial or total removal of external
female genital organs that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia and Africa,
have already endured.

8. More than two-thirds
of the women's
populations don't
have access to the
financial system.
Poor women are not
considered credit
worthy. The idea of
the business is only
maximisation of
profit. That is too
narrow an
interpretation of a
human being. Every
human being should
have the “right to
credit” because if
people have money,
they can change
their lives. It is true for
women.

9. Millions of women suffer from
discrimination in the world of work. This
not only violates a most basic human
right, but has wider social and
economic consequences. Most of the
governments turn a blind eye to illegal
practices and enact and enforce
discriminatory laws. Corporations and
private individuals engage in abusive
and discriminatory practices without
fear of legal system. Sexual harassment
and violence in the workplace are
common and constant threats to
working women's lives and livelihoods.

10. Since the late 1970s
when the technology
for sex determination
first came into being,
sex selective abortion
has unleashed a saga
of horror in India.

11. In some parts of
the country, the
sex ratio of girls
to boys has
dropped to less
than 800:1,000.
It's alarming that
even liberal
states like those
in the northeast
have taken to
disposing of girls.

12. Worryingly, the trend is
far stronger in urban
rather than rural areas,
and among literate
rather than illiterate
women, exploding the
myth that growing
affluence and spread
of basic education
alone will result in the
erosion of gender bias.

13. Over the years, laws
have been made
stricter and the
punishment too is
more stringent now.
But since many
people manage to
evade punishment,
others too feel
inclined to take the
risk. Just look at the
way sex-
determination tests
go on despite a stiff
ban on them. The
United Nations has
expressed serious
concern about the
situation.

14. India alone accounts
for more than 50
million of the women
who are “missing” due
to female foeticide -
the sex-selective
abortion of girls, dowry
death, gender-based
neglect and all forms
of violence against
women.
We can point a finger
at poverty. But poverty
alone does not result in
these girls and
women’s deaths and
suffering; the blame
also falls on the social
system and attitudes of
the societies.

15. The decline in the sex ratio
and the millions of Missing
Women are indicators of the
feudal patriarchal
resurgence. Violence
against women has gone
public – whether it is dowry
murders, the practice of
female genital mutilation,
honour killings, sex selective
abortions or death
sentences awarded to
young lovers from different
communities by caste
councils, rapes and killings
in communal and caste
violence, it is only women’s
and human rights groups
who are protesting – the
public and institutional
response to these trends is
very minimal.

16. Say No To Sex Selection and Female Foeticide!
Educate & Empowered Women for a Happy Future!
Make War and Hunger History!
We are making such material available in our efforts
to advance understanding of issues of humanitarian
and ecological significance. The images on this
presentation are not necessarily those of survivors of
violence and human rights abuse.
© Social Geographic Foundation
Please NOTE and RESPECT the copyright. ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED. None of the images may be copied,
reproduced, published or distributed in any medium
without the expressed written permission.
E-mail: socialgeographic@gmail.com
Photo & design: Firoz Ahmad Firoz
SocialGe graphic