Women in the east...

...are not being born. At least, not enough women are being born. According to the Guardian:

China is planning to tighten punishments for sex-selective abortions amid
concerns that its widening gender imbalance will lead to wife trafficking,
sexual crimes and social frustration...

Nationwide, six males are born for every five females, far above the
international average. With the gap growing every year as a result of increased
access to ultrasound sex-checking technology, one senior official warned that
China faces the 'most serious gender imbalance in the world'.

In the SI subtitle I mention "women in the west." This is largely because I feel like, having never lived in an eastern society, I have a very limited understanding of the issues that face women living in those cultures. Yet, this story struck me as particularly telling in a global sense - we create societies that limit opportunities for women, that rob women of their power and confine them to the home. Having denied women the opportunity to contribute equally to their society, the society then devalues women. This causes problems for women and for the societies in which they live.

I'd like to think that in the west we are free, for the most part, of this type of bias towards boy babies. Yet, there is a constant pressure within western societies to limit women's rights and to confine their sphere of influence to the home. Don't believe me? Visit Feministing.