It happens in China too

Apart from the stupendous population growth rates, China has one more thing in common with India insofar as census findings are concerned ? a highly skewed male-female ratio. According to a report published in British daily The Guardian, China’s population shot up by 8.1 million people last year to 1.307 billion. The report quoted figures from the website of China’s State Bureau of Statistics. The Bureau said that there were 106.3 men for every 100 women. The figures, Guardian says, are the result of the “1% sample” which is a mini-census covering about 17 million people that was carried out halfway between a nationwide census conducted once in 10 years. The lopsided male-female ratio is reportedly the consequence of a high rate of female infanticide in China where boys are valued more than girls and where most couples are allowed to have only one child. Sounds familiar.

Pension boost

Women who stop working and stay at home to look after children or care for a relative will have their contributions to the state retirement pensions in the UK, John Hutton, the British work and pensions minister, said last week. “We should be looking at how we can develop a new contributory principle that gives women a fairer entitlement to the basic state pension more quickly, ensuring that we value social contributions equally with cash contributions,” Hutton said. He said it was time to move away from a system based on a 19th century view of working lives and social relationships.

The Daily Telegraph

Time for reforms

Now it’s the National Commission for Women’s (NCW) turn to take up the cudgels on behalf of Jessica Lal. NCW president Girija Vyas (pic right) has written to the Prime Minister to speed up the reformatory measures in the judicial system as suggested in such reports as the Justice Malimath Committee Report. The women’s commission has also written to home minister Shivraj Patil and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi highlighting the unsafe conditions women have to cope with in big cities. Vyas cited the recent murder of two women lawyers in South Delhi in this regard.

Wanted, men

Wanted: Eligible bachelors for women in New Zealand. Because there’s ‘a deficit of men’ in the age group of 20-49 years, say researchers in the department of labour. Their study shows that in the past two decades, there has been a 10 per cent increase in the number of highly qualified women ‘marrying down’ because of a lack of partners with equal economic and educational status. The research also predicts that this is likely to affect fertility because such women are forced to stay at work for longer hours while husbands look after their homes. Population projections show there are 33,000 more women than men aged between 20 and 49 years in New Zealand.

All about women

Critically acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is back with yet another film on his favourite topic: Women. In his latest venture, Volver, starring Penelope Cruz, the Spanish filmmaker weaves the story around three generations of Spanish women. The film, which opens in the US in June, explores such issues as death, loneliness of women and maternity. Cruz plays a fiery woman with a teenaged daughter whose mother returns from her after-life to settle some issues with her daughter. Almodovar has always been known for his portrayal of strong women who, as he himself puts it, are ‘more amusing and luminous than men’. He has won an Oscar twice for his films, All About My Mother (2000) and Talk to Her (2003).

Overheard: A study by a New York magazine has found most married couples still divide the financial matters along traditional lines ? everyday spending is handled by women while men look after investments for long-term security. So much for economic independence!