Thank heavens for little girls, they grow up in the most delightful way. Not everyone shares Maurice Chevalier’s enthusiasm, or is prepared to allow a female child to grow up at all. Certainly not countries where boys are still needed to do hard physical labour or where only sons can inherit land. Or where boys are simply considered better. In Indian cities, the primitive village practice of killing unwanted, live female babies is frowned upon; aborting girls is seen as the civilised, modern alternative. In such societies, there are 120 boys for every 100 girls. Back in 1990, the economist Amartya Sen estimated that 100 million girls had “disappeared”. That figure is much higher today. They call it gendercide.
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