Killed for being female?

Summary

Podcast Summary: More or Less — "Killed for being female?"

Original Broadcast: April 26, 2014
Host: Ruth Alexander (BBC Radio 4)

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Overview

In this episode of More or Less, the team investigates a striking and disturbing claim often quoted in public debate: more girls have been "killed for being girls" in the past 50 years than men have died in all the wars of the 20th century. Presenter Ruth Alexander and the team scrutinize the origins, accuracy, and meaning of this statistic—unpacking its nuances and the reality behind the numbers. The discussion features insights from economists Amartya Sen and Stefan Klaußen, and considers both the data and the ethics of how these issues are communicated.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origin of the Statistic (00:19–01:41)

• The claim originated from journalist Nicholas Kristof’s book Half the Sky and was recently quoted by Bill Maher.
• Listener Sharanya from India reaches out, asking: "Could this really be true? How big are these numbers?" (01:10–01:26)
• Ruth Alexander: “It is an incredible statistic, and here at More or Less, it is precisely that sort of dramatic claim that sets our alarm bells ringing.” (01:27)

2. What Does "Missing Women" Mean? (02:01–03:36)

• Charlotte McDonald, the show’s reporter, explains the statistic is rooted not in literal "killings," but in the academic concept of "missing women."
• Amartya Sen’s work is foundational: In the 1970s and 1980s, Sen observed higher mortality among girls in certain countries, tied to gender-based neglect (02:03–02:53).
• Amartya Sen: "By the time girls are admitted to the hospital, they are much more ill than... boys... which really means that you tend to neglect the girls’ illnesses." (02:21)
• In his 1990 paper, Sen estimated there would be 100 million more women alive if females were treated equally worldwide (03:14).

3. How Do These Girls Go "Missing"? (03:36–05:08)

• Historically, "missing women" resulted primarily from neglect: girls receiving less food, healthcare, and medical attention.
• Today, improved technology (ultrasound) allows sex-selective abortions, particularly in countries like China and India.
• Demographic note: Normally, about 105 boys are born for every 100 girls—“But in China now... for every 100 female children born, we now have 118 male children born.” —Stefan Klaußen (04:47)
• Current estimate: China sees 1–2 million girls per year "missing" due to sex-selective abortions (05:08).

4. Comparing to War Deaths—Is the Statistic Plausible? (05:15–07:01)

• The show seeks to compare the 100 million missing women to men killed in all 20th century wars—but finds numbers for war deaths are vague and contested (05:28).
• Stefan Klaußen: "In the big wars... World War I and World War II, we've had probably about together 50 million males that died... It's likely [the total war deaths] to be less than 100 million." (05:57)
• Thus, it may be broadly accurate that more women have gone "missing" than men died in all 20th-century wars—but this is fuzzy due to data limitations (06:42).

5. The Problem of Framing—Is “Killing” the Right Word? (07:01–07:32)

• Amartya Sen critiques the phraseology: "[...] killing is not the issue. The neglect of girls in education, in diet and medical care must stop, and boy preference at birth... that's the concern. But by using terminology that may be misunderstood, I think we don't serve the cause very well." (07:01)
• Ruth Alexander underscores the importance of precise language: sometimes, “a word or an image chosen to make a dramatic impact may obscure the detail of exactly what's going on.” (07:32)

6. Remembering the Unseen (07:33–08:37)

• Klaußen draws a poignant comparison between the commemoration of war dead and the invisibility of missing women:
  • “We can go to the battlefields, in the cemeteries... With this gender-biased mortality, we have none of this... only through these very indirect techniques are we able to appreciate this problem.” (08:00)
• The 100 million missing women is “the same number of people in the Philippines, which is the 12th most populous country in the world” (08:37).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Amartya Sen on the real issue:
  “Killing is not the issue... The neglect of girls in education, in diet and medical care must stop, and boy preference at birth... that's the concern.” (07:01)
• Stefan Klaußen on war deaths vs. missing women:
  "It's likely to be less than 100 million... I would suggest it's likely that there are more missing women than men killed in wars." (05:57)
• On the scale of the issue:
  "If that whole country [the Philippines] was wiped out, that is the number of women who are missing today—who should exist but don’t.” —Charlotte MacDonald (08:38)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:19 – Introduction of the issue/statistic and listener question
• 02:03 – Definition and historical background of "missing women"
• 03:36 – Scale and causes of missing women globally
• 04:47 – Sex-selective abortions and Chinese birth ratios
• 05:28 – Attempting to count 20th-century war deaths
• 07:01 – Amartya Sen on the misuse of “killed” terminology
• 08:00 – Klaußen on remembrance and the invisibility of missing women
• 08:37 – Concluding thoughts on the scale of 100 million missing women

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Tone & Language

• The discussion is factual, empathetic, and careful not to sensationalize.
• Experts caution against dramatic but misleading language; the show aims to provide nuance and clarity.

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Closing Thought

This episode of More or Less lays bare the harrowing scale and complexity behind the “100 million missing women” figure—stressing that the real tragedy is one of silent neglect, not overt acts of war, and urging both statistical and linguistic precision when discussing such sensitive global issues.

Transcript

[A]

This is the short edition of More or Less, first broadcast on the BBC World Service.

[B]

Thank you for downloading from the BBC. For details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, go to bbcworldservice.com podcasts

[A]

hello and welcome to More or Less on the BBC World Service. I'm Ruth Alexander and this week we'll be exploring which is the biggest killer, war or misogyny. Recently on his show, American tv, chat host Bill Maher quoted from journalist Nicholas Kristof's book Half the Sky.

[C]

He said this, and I quoted it then, but it probably bears repeating every week. He said more girls were killed in the last 50 years precisely because they were girls than men were killed in all the wars of the 20th century. Yeah, I mean, you hear that reaction. I think people just don't understand how deep this problem is.

[A]

One of our loyal listeners from India was watching this and she was surprised. She got in touch with us to see if we would investigate.

[D]

Hello, more or less, I'm Sharanya from India. I heard that more girls have been killed precisely because there were girls than men killed in all the wars of 20th century. Could this really be true? How big are these numbers? It would be quite relieving if this one stat was completely untrue.

[A]

Saranya. It is an incredible statistic, and here at More or Less, it is precisely that sort of dramatic claim that sets our alarm bells ringing. So Charlotte MacDonald has been investigating. Charlotte, what have you found?

[E]

I contacted Nicholas Kristof, but he wasn't able to take part in the program. As far as the figure concerning women was concerned, I assumed it was referring to murder, but actually I looked at his book and it refers to the phenomena missing women. I couldn't find the exact numbers he used for his comparison, but I'm assuming he's equating girls killed with missing women.

[A]

So what does he mean by missing women?

[E]

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, academics were studying high mortality rates for girls in certain countries. One of those was the famous economist Amartya Sen. He wrote a number of papers exploring why this might be. I spoke to him on the phone and this is one of the examples he gave.

[F]

One of the early works I did in the 1970s was looking at hospital data from India that by the time girls are admitted to the hospital, they are much more ill than the time when boys are admitted, which really means that you tend to neglect the girls illnesses. So that evidence of neglect existed, you could see how the female mortality rate was elevated compared with male mortality in, in many of these countries.

[E]

This led him to think, many females are missing from the world's population because of neglect. If they'd been treated the same as boys, more would be alive. He wrote an influential paper in 1990 about the issue of what he termed missing women. He looked at countries where males and females received similar treatment, for example, in Europe and North America. In those regions, there were more women than men for the most part because women tend to live longer. He used those ratios and compared them to those he found in countries such as India and China, where there are fewer women. He reasoned that if females had been treated equally everywhere, there would be 100 million more women in the world at that time. Those were what he called the missing women.

[A]

100 million missing women, that's. That's a huge number. That is shocking.

[E]

It really is. And it set off a huge public debate at the time. It got loads of publicity and lots of academics got involved. Other people copied his methods. One of those is Stefan Klassen. He's an economist from the University of Gottingen in Germany who I've been speaking to. Now, he estimates there are still about 100 million missing women today. Now, when Amartya Sen was looking at the data back in the 70s and 80s, he found that the cause was neglect. However, today both Amartya Sen and Stefan Klaassen say that parents neglect their daughters less than in the past. But instead, due to changes in technology and ultrasound, people are able to determine the sex of their baby before it's born, leading to more female abortions. One of the strange quirks of nature is that you might think there would be an equal number of girls and boys born. But actually, studies show that in most populations more boys are born than girls. So for every 100 girls born, you'd actually expect about 105 boys to be born. But Stefan Klaassen told me the situation in China is very different.

[G]

In China now, for every 100 female children born, we now have 118 male children born. And so a massive shortage of females. And that, of course, points to the massive impact of sex selective abortions.

[A]

That is a very large number of

[E]

missing women, exactly 118, where it should be, 105.

[G]

The girls that don't get to be born in China due to sex selective abortions is on the order of 1 to 2 million per year.

[A]

People have calculated that there are 100 million missing women, and then we're comparing that to how many men have died in wars in the 20th century. So how many men died in wars in the 20th century. Do we know that?

[E]

The problem is there wasn't an estimate given in the book written by Nicholas Kristof. And I have struggled to find possible estimates because they're very much disputed. I mean, it's impossible to compile a definitive list of all the conflicts in the 20th century, let alone the exact number of men who were killed fighting. There were so many issues in working that out. I asked Stefan Klassen if he thought the idea that there were more missing women than men killed in 20th century War seemed reasonable.

[G]

I think it's probably true, but it's hard to tell. So we know that in the big wars of the 20th century, so World War I and World War II, we've had probably about together 50 million males that died. And where it gets a little bit murky is we've had many, many conflicts since World War where the distinction between combatants and the general population has been much less clear. In Vietnam, millions of Vietnamese died during the Vietnam War, many of which were women. Not all of these men were combatants. So it actually is fairly difficult to work out precisely, but I would suggest it's likely to be less than 100 million.

[A]

So Stefan Klaassen, well, he says it's really difficult to put numbers on this, but broadly speaking, it's probably true. There are more missing women than men killed in the wars in the 20th century. Did you ask Amartya Sen what he thought? Yes.

[E]

I did also ask him if he thought more females had been killed.

[F]

Killing is not the issue. You know, I think one has to diagnose the problem properly in order to be able to solve it. The neglect of girls in education, in diet and medical care must stop, and boy preference at birth, where the female fetuses are selectively aborted. That's the concern. But by using terminology that may be misunderstood, I think we don't serve the cause very well.

[A]

That's something we've heard so many times here on more or less. A word or an image chosen to make a dramatic impact may obscure the detail of exactly what's going on. But I think what this comparison does do is get across a really important point that we often talk about the soldiers who have died in war and remember them. But how do you remember women who should exist but don't?

[E]

And actually, Stefan Klausen explained this really well.

[G]

We're now in the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of World War I. We will do a lot of commemorations of senseless loss of life that took place during this war. And we can go to the battlefields in the cemeteries. So there is a very clear way of how we can relate to the deaths of World War I or the deaths of World War II here with this gender biased mortality. We have none of this. It's only when we put it all together do we see, look, in India, the girls are dying from pneumonia and diarrhea a lot more than the boys do. There must be a reason for that. And only through these very indirect techniques are we able to appreciate this problem.

[E]

Whatever the comparison you use, 100 million missing women is a big number. Another way you could think of it is that there are the same number of people in the Philippines, which is the 12th most populous country in the world. So if that whole country was wiped out, that is the number of women who are missing today who should exist but don't.

[A]

Charlotte, thank you. If there are any numbers you'd like us to investigate or explain, do please email us. Our address is more or [e-mail] and you can also sign up for a free download of this program at our website, BBC Worlds.

[B]

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