See the following website for an interesting discussion of the imbalance between males and females in Armenia. The links to The Economist are also worth reading.
Gender imbalances | The South Caucasus on the top of the list
http://www.crrccenters.org/news/?id=41
When I forwarded this article to a fellow volunteer, she said that it upset her and she mentioned how often people had said to her, “You only have daughters?” I have also received the same reaction. And then I don’t know how to respond in a culturally sensitive way, as I fight back my anger.
This favoritism towards males is very evident in families I interact with. The number of young males far surpasses the number of females. And volunteers who work in schools have huge issues with the immature and spoiled male students. Then just yesterday, my host sister expressed concern that her 20 year-old son who just came home from the compulsory military service, may go to Russia to find a job. My host mom’s two sons have lived in Russia for over twenty years. (One family has two sons, the other has a son and daughter.) So now I’m confused about the “value” of sons who leave the country, though they do send money, in terms of providing emotional and physical support in your old age.
I'm glad you're talking about this issue, Barbara. I think it is the most disturbing thing I've found in this culture and probably even more disturbing how people just excuse it. I mentioned the statistics to an Armenian friend and she said, "Yeah. If people don't want a girl they just get rid of it." Not only did she literally use the word "it" she also said it non-nonchalantly as if she'd said something like, "If people don't like their moles they just get them removed."
ReplyDeleteTo me this is a silent genocide and they're in complete denial of the reality. I feel like there needs to be some serious education in this region about what they're doing to themselves.
-- Hayley
Hayley