A WORLD WITHOUT WOMEN

Mara Hvistendahl, Correspondent, Science

Asia is “missing” an estimated 160 million females – more than the entire U.S. female population. Underlying this alarming statistic are the imbalanced sex-at-birth ratios sweeping the continent, most notably in China, where 120 boys are born for every 100 girls. Traditional explanations for this biological shift have implicated China’s one-child policy, the preferences of local cultures, and the low social status of women—and prescribed economic progress as the remedy to reverse the trend. Mara Hvistendahl challenges these explanations, instead emphasizing the lesser known role of Western institutions, technology, and wealth in propagating this dangerous imbalance in Asia and the Caucasus region, including in countries as varied as India, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Join The Chicago Council and Mara Hvistendahl for a discussion on these hidden causes and the destabilizing consequences of a world with fewer women.

Mara Hvistendahl is a correspondent for Science magazine and contributor to numerous publications, including Harper’s, Scientific American, Popular Science, the Financial Times, and Foreign Policy. She has lived in China since 2005 and reports on the intersection of science, policy, and society in China. Prior to joining Science, she was the contributing editor at Seed magazine and a correspondent for the Times Higher Education. She has taught journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai and currently serves on the advisory board of Round Earth Media. Her writing was nominated for the Newswoman’s Club of New York Front Page Award and won an Education Writers Association award. She earned her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her M.S. from Columbia University’s School of Journalism.

Her new book, Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men, will be available for purchase and signing following the program.