Divisions of class, race and gender provide a foundation for the distancing of human beings from each other, according to Dr. Amartya Kumar Sen, a Boston University visiting professor of future studies, in a lecture given yesterday at the School of Management.
Sen’s lecture focused on the inequalities created by class, gender and race in his fourth lecture in his six lecture series entitled “The Future of Identity.”
“Gender inequality exists in most parts of the world from Afghanistan to the United States, from Morocco to Japan, but the forms involved can be widely different,” Sen said.
According to Sen, gender inequality in some regions can be a matter of life and death, because of the differences in health care men and women receive.
This leads to high mortality rates of women, and a disproportionate number of men and women in the population, according to Sen. He said the total of missing women from China, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka can add up to over 100 million.
Sen also discussed the issue of natality and equality. With the advent of technology, people can determine the sex of an unborn baby. He said sex selection has become a common practice in East Asia, China, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Natal discrimination against girls in these countries results in many abortions, he said.
According to Sen, the gap between the number of females and males in South Korea and China has increased in recent years. The ratio in these countries is 85-88 girls for 100 boys, Sen said.
Another type of gender inequality that exists in many countries occurs in the household, according to Sen. He said this includes the inequalities of sharing the burdens of housework and childcare.
“Household inequality can sometimes take the beastly form of violence against women,” Sen said. “Brutality, like charity, begins at home.”
Empowerment of women, including increasing literacy rates and increased employment opportunities for women, reduces inequality in mortality, Sen said. However, even with the increased empowerment of women, the rates of inequality in births remain the same. According to Sen, women in certain countries still choose to have an abortion when the sex of the baby is determined to be a girl.
“When women themselves are active in promoting gender inequality, then female empowerment can not on its own cure the consequent gender inequality in natality,” Sen said.
A second issue Sen focused on was the interrelation between different types of social disparity. Class, gender and race exaggerate the impact of each other, he said.
“Class is not only important on its own, but can also magnify the impact of other contributors to inequality,” Sen said.
This interaction between class, gender, and race is not always negative, according to Sen. Sometimes belonging to a privileged class can help women overcome certain barriers, Sen said.
For example, Sen said South Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have all had or currently have a woman as a prime minister, which, according to Sen, has never occurred in the US, Japan, Germany, or France.
Lauren Loveland, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said the lecture was educational and relevant.
“It pertains to American society, too, and it is something that anyone who is interested in social sciences should understand in this country,” Loveland said.
Erin Bartok, a School of Management freshman, said the lecture was educational.
“I really liked his views on sex-determination, and that he is pro-choice yet against sex-determined abortion,” said Bartok.