Context

• Recently, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released the State of the World Population 2020 report, titled ‘Against my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and undermine equality’.

Key findings:

• At least 19 harmful practices, ranging from dowry related violence to crimes in the name of so-called honour, are considered human rights violations.
• The Report focuses on the three most prevalent forms: child marriage, son preference and Gender Biased Sex Selection (GBSS), and female genital mutilation (FGM).
• 6 lakh girls were “missing” at birth each year from 2013 to 2017, as a result of sex selection that prefers a male child to a female child. The report added that 4.6 crore women are “missing” in India over the last 50 years.
• Globally, the number of “missing” women is 14.2 crore.
• Globally, roughly one in five (21%) of women are subjected to child marriage.
• 32% of Indian women who had been married before the age of 18 had experienced physical abuse from their husbands, compared to 17% for those who married as adults. This is based on a survey of more than 8,000 women in five states where child marriage is most prevalent – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkand, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
• According to the report, advances in India have contributed to a 50% decline in child marriages in South Asia.
• The report took note of the successful cash-transfer initiative such as ‘Apni Beti Apna Dhan’ in India.

Global Facts

• The number of missing women has more than doubled over the past 50 years, who were at 61 million in 1970.
• In Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan excess female mortality of girls below 5 years of age was under 3%.

Source: Indian Express, TH, State of the World Population 2020 report