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“I’ve been a priest for 25 years. During this time, I’ve met a lot of families ready to terminate their pregnancy just because of expecting a girl,” said Giorgi Ugrekhelidze, a religious leader in Georgia. “In most cases, men push their wives to make this decision.”
A widespread preference for sons has resulted in severely skewed sex ratios in Georgia. For every 100 girls born in the country, 108 boys are born, according to data by expert Christophe Guilmoto, published in 2015.
Similarly imbalanced sex ratios have been seen in countries throughout Asia and Eastern Europe, the result of gender-biased sex selection, the neglect of girl infants and even female infanticide. As a result, some 117 million women are believed to be “missing” in countries where son preference is prevalent.
Skewed sex ratios lead to the “masculinization” of society. In places like India and China, men are expected to greatly outnumber women for generations, even if sex ratios at birth return to normal.
The long-term consequences of this masculinization could be dangerous, including the possibility of increased sexual violence...
