I recently read 2 eye-opening articles in Marie.Claire Magazine.
*This information is disturbing.

Economists Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ray conducted their routine study of women’s mortality in China, India, and Africa. They discovered that six million women are dying each year- many in their 20’s and 30’s- due to neglect and mistreatment.

Here are 3 examples are the reason for the high death rate.

India-
Bride Burnings: More than 225,000 women die in India each year from disagreements over their dowry (the money or goods the bride’s family owes the groom’s). This is a typical scenario: When a bride’s family cannot pay the promised cash in a lump sum, the bride’s in-laws torture her with fire until her family pays the money or until the abuse kills her.

China-
The suicide rate for women is higher than men, which is unique to the rest of the world. An estimated 150,000 Chinese women- most between the ages of 15 and 35- take their own lives each year. It happens mostly in rural areas. The suicides stem from problems such as the pressure of an arranged marriage to a stranger and the burden of the backbreaking work women have to do in the fields and factories.

Africa-
More than 600,000 African women die each year due to lack of treatment for HIV. 75% of Africans living with the disease are women. What is the cause? Husbands often have multiple sexual partners on the side, which helps spread the disease. Wives have limited power to negotiate safe-sex practices and less access to treatments compared to other regions.

There was also an article about the high death rate of women in Africa due to pregnancy and giving birth. The article says that exact numbers are hard to come by but surveys suggest that for every 100,000 babies born in Tanzania, nearly 1000 mothers lose their lives in child birth.

To read more buy November’s issue of Marie.Claire.

They also did a story on selling young girls for se.x in Cambodia. The article states that more than 12 million people are now victims of forced pro.stitution and labor across the world. The buying and selling of humans is a $32 billion global business, according to the US State Dept. 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report.