'Missing Girls' in the South Caucasus Countries : Trends, Possible Causes, and Policy Options
Sex ratios at birth rose sharply in the South Caucasus countries after 1991, but recent data indicate that this trend is turning. What caused this rise, and what can be done to accelerate its normalization? Traditional kinship systems in the region...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/04/24333343/“missing-girls”-south-caucasus-countries-trends-possible-causes-policy-options http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21850 |
| Summary: | Sex ratios at birth rose sharply in the
South Caucasus countries after 1991, but recent data
indicate that this trend is turning. What caused this rise,
and what can be done to accelerate its normalization?
Traditional kinship systems in the region are similar to
those of other settings with sex-selection: structured for
collaboration among male kin and dependence only on sons,
not daughters. Yet it is anomalous to find sex-selection in
a region that under the Soviet Union has for long been
substantially urbanized and gender-equitable in public life
— factors associated with declines in sex-selection
elsewhere. Sex-selection manifested itself only after the
sudden economic and governance meltdown following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Jobs, basic
services, and social protection mechanisms unraveled. People
scrambled for coping mechanisms, and sons offer the
traditional form of support under uncertainty. Basic
services, pensions, and safety nets have been rebuilt, but
the process involved years of policy changes. Strengthening
these institutions, and maintaining credible continuity of
expectations in them, is critical to accelerating
normalization of sex ratios. |
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