India, China have 42.6 million 'missing' women

India is finally inching towards a possible 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament. But a human development report of the United Nations Development Program, dedicated to gender equality in Asia and Pacific, puts India and China on the same footing in terms of the fast-reducing number of women in the two countries. The report, launched today, shows that both India and China have about 42.6 million missing women.

Close to 100 million women in Asia are estimated to be ‘missing’, having died because of discriminatory treatment in access to health and nutrition or through pure neglect or because they were never born in the first place.

The report calls to facilitate group ownership of assets for women as means to increased empowerment of women, besides gender-sensitive policymaking and more space to women in the political arena. It asks the finance, planning, commerce and other ministries of all countries to educate themselves to be gender-sensitive.