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Gender imbalance is a potential global justice issue that requires immediate international intervention. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s opinion on cosmopolitanism and practice of shared values is worth discussing while investigating the underlying factors of Gender imbalance. However, his perceptions of values with regard to female genital mutilation and similar practices are in sharp contrast with the findings of Hvistendahl on sex-selective abortion and birth control.
Appiah argues that people today are responsible to people within and outside of their own culture. According to the author, ‘Cosmopolitanism’ requires people to be positive about the way other people do things, while without compromising the ways of their own cultures. Cosmopolitanism, according to Appiah, reflects the basic habits of coexistence that is found in the basic human community. This basic characteristic of human community has to be developed in the global community too, where conversation takes its older meaning of ‘living together and association’ (Appiah xix).
Appiah’s conviction about cosmopolitanism involves two aspects: firstly, we are accountable to people of other cultures too, and secondly, we should take “value of particular human lives, which means taking an interest in the practices and beliefs that lend them significance” (Appiah xv). Thus idea of community and solidarity gains higher altitudes regardless of cultural differences or class variance. In simple words, each individual has obligation to one another but at the same has a duty to themselves. This can be called ‘the virtue of shared humanity’. However, according to the author, this is easy to practice, and in order for bringing this concept into practice, people only need to be aware this obligation. It is relevant to think if this notion has anything to do with the pertaining issues of gender imbalance.
Gender imbalance can be attributed to various factors including natural factors, infanticides, environmental contaminants, gender-selective abortions etc. If there is a notable rate of disparity between male and females in a population, this can be considered as gender imbalance. Among the above mentioned causes, deliberate gender-selective infanticides and violence against women requires discussion on the ground of Appiah’s views, for the elimination of women can put every population at risk.
Mara Hvistendahl’s findings throw light on the alarming issue of gender imbalance the world is experiencing today. Hvistendahl researched on some of the Asian populations, especially in Vietnam, Georgia, South Korea, India and China, and according to her, 163 million females have been missing from Asia's population. Although several scholars have identified this issue as a potential demographic problem, collaborative efforts to address the issue have not been taken by any responsible organizations yet. Referring to Christophe Guilmoto’s research in Tamil Nadu, an Indian state, Hvistendah argued that “people were not simply having fewer children. They were having fewer girls” (Hvistendah, chapter 1).
Cosmopolitanism aims at eliminating differences in the global society. However, when the concept is applied to women population, it fails to answer many questions pertaining to the current scenario. What can this notion do for females who struggle for recognition of their rights? For them, it is not a matter of mere difference; it is a matter of right to survive. Therefore, Cosmopolitanism practices, when it comes to gender imbalance issues, have to broaden their target. Hvistendah comments sharply as “If 163 million women were missing from the US population, you would certainly notice—but only if you were a man” (Hvistendah, chapter 1). The meaning is that under such a situation there will be no woman left in the US, and this would definitely bring attention. This alarming growth of gender imbalance is an area that Appiah overlooked in his idea of cosmopolitanism and shared practices.
Appiah’s perception of values has to be discussed here. According to him, if an individual desires everyone to be just and loyal, that constitutes values of justice and loyalty the person considers important to them and others. The major causes of gender imbalance indicate that the world’s value of women is under question. Again there arises the next thought, how consistent are values? It requires one to go consider the values of various societies across the globe. Although each culture has its own unique values, there are empirical values with regard to family, life, happiness, etc that all cultures have in common.
This proves that only universal values can sustain on the ground of cosmopolitanism and shared practices. To be more specific, from Appiah’s perspective, Tamil Nadu population’s value of womanhood (?) is not of universal characteristics. Instead, it is based on historically accepted/developed desires. On the contrary, if one closely looks into this issue, one can understand that the case is not a matter of value. To illustrate, Appiah’s opinion on female genital cutting flaws seriously. Appiah points out that varying opinions on this practice indicate only varying values. When one society considers female circumcision as harmful to girls and women, clear abuse of their body, and something that would hinder experiencing sexual pleasure, people in another society consider the act as a means to enhancing pleasure and expressing themselves (Appiah, 15).
As Hvistendahl purports, the world has already stuck with a "surplus" men situation, and restoring the global gender balance may take several decades. This is a critical situation that falls under global justice concerns. When the gender demographic of China is taken into consideration, by 2020, China is expected to have about 30 million bachelors (15 to 20 percent of marriageable-age males) who will lack partners (Keating). This condition is the obvious result of the country’s controlled birth rate. According to statistics, “118 boys are born for every 100 girls in China, compared to an average of 107 to 100 internationally” (Keating). Sex-selective abortion has been going on in China for decades due to the nation’s one-child policy. And, evidently, it was female babies who suffered from this situation. According to another report, “only four out of over 135 nations have achieved gender equality including Costa Rica, Cuba, Sweden, and Norway” (Kamrany).
Hence, the identified unusual decline in population growth was the result of deliberate control of the number of daughters in almost all these countries. Formulating a global government underpinned by international laws is essential to address the issue. This is the context where reconsidering the positive sides of cosmopolitanism becomes relevant although there is a difficulty with facilitating cosmopolitan solidarity. In other words, this concept should be improved from moral cosmopolitanism to political cosmopolitanism. World political compositions like the UN and international laws can create this transformative perspective to a great extent.
In total, gender imbalance is one of the most potential problems of the contemporary world. It has become a wide field of philosophical thought for the past few years. Like other important issues like refugee crisis and related economic and political dilemmas, gender imbalance also has become a global justice problem. In order to comprehend the intensity of this alert, the issue has to be approached from theoretical and practical dimensions at a time. Also, it is important to know under what circumstances a particular issue becomes a global justice concern. Further research on this topic is highly essential for its mounting significance.
Works Cited
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. UK: Penguin UK, 2015. Print.
Hvistendahl, Mara. Unnatural Selection Choosing Boys Over Girls & the Consequences of a World Full of Men. US: Publicaffairs, 2011. Print.
Keating, Joshua. “Economist Says Polyamory Can Solve China’s Gender Imbalance. Chinese Internet Explodes”. Slate. Oct 26. 2015. Web 15 Feb 2016. http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/10/26/economist_says_china_s_gender_imbalance_can_be_solved_by_polyamory_chinese.html
Kamrany, Nake. “The Global Problem of Gender Inequality”. The Huffington Post. Jun 11, 2012. Web 15 Feb 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gender-inequality_b_1417535.html?section=india
