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Global Feminism

abradycole's picture

If I were going to write a web event on global feminism, I would be interested in researching the relationship between maternal health and female empowerment in India and China. There’s a ratio of 140 to 100 boys to girls born in some regions of India. Because daughters are seen as drains on families’ resources and boys are seen as bringing strength and wealth to families, it’s very common for baby girls to be aborted, killed soon after birth, and abandoned. This gendercide is the direct result of cultures that value the lives of men and undervalue the lives of women. As a result of this huge gender disparity, there are fewer women for men to marry. This has lead to the rise in human trafficing to ensure the possibility of marriage for wealthy men. There’s a documentary called It’s A Girl which explores this gendercide. I would use it in collaboration with Waring’s work to examine ways in which women’s labor is valued differently than men’s labor.