ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes that gender, when combined with age, provides a formidable nexus for disability. It accentuates the burden and consequences of sexism for girls in terms of their survival, health, and nutritional capability, as well as educational and employment preparation. International attention has focused singularly on the unequal demographic status of women in relation to men, neglecting the less favorable numerical status of girls. Within the family, genderism is both generic and chronic. A strong preference for the birth of sons rather than daughters, which is both a cause and an effect of the female's low status, is unmistakably present throughout most of the world. Much of the girl's inferior value is traced to her sexuality and the reproductive risks it entails. Health and survival are telling measures of the relative values placed upon the female and the male in society.
