New York: Pre-natal sex selection in India is leading to skewed sex ratios, which has resulted in a greater demand for young women, usually lower class women, who are then trafficked abroad, and forced into household sexual slavery, a UN body has said.
In households that cannot afford more than one female servant, she is often referred to as a 'Draupadi' and is sometimes forced to provide sexual service not only to her husband, but also his male relatives, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said.
The UNFPA highlighted the five areas relating to gender-violence during its second annual '16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence' which began on November 25, the International Day for Violence Against Women.
To date, researchers estimate that there are between 40 and 50 million 'missing' girl-children who were never born, because they were either aborted or killed soon after birth.
Women abroad
Domestic violence in Russia, self-immolation in Central Asia and Pakistan, gender-based violence and "compensation marriages" are the other areas on the group's agenda.
Approximately 14,000 women are murdered by their intimate partners annually in Russia, according to UNFPA.
The proportion of HIV-infected women continues to overtake that of men annually.
Women are two to five times more susceptible to contracting HIV from a male partner, but gender-based violence including coercion, war-time rape, 'widow cleansing', domestic violence and female genital mutilation also contribute to the soaring rates, it said.
It cited research that showed a rise in the numbers of women and girls practising self-immolation in Northern Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Compensation marriages - the practice of forcing a girl into arranged marriages as compensation - is prevalent in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, Afghanistan, West Asia and Africa, the report said.
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