The Disappearing Females of Arabia

I was reading an article in Asia Times Online about the shortfall of females in many Asian countries. Not all of them are Moslem, but a good few are. The most staggering figures came from that most moralistic and patriarchal country of all, the closest ally of our rulers, Saudi Arabia. In a country of not quite 30 million inhabitants there are almost three million more males than females, a disparity of 10.44%.
Taking into account the greater number of male to female migrant workers this is still an astonishing figure.
As abortion is illegal and difficult to obtain it can only be assumed that many baby girls are murdered at birth.
It is easy to slate the Arabs and/or Moslems as being savage and barbaric, but there must be some rationale, however perverse that rationale may be, behind mass female infanticide.
Why is there a war on women?
Throughout the ages women have always been more useful than men. They have borne the children, fed them, nursed them, looked after the home, dug the vegetable patch, looked after the chickens, made the clothes, mended the clothes, pretty much the lot. The boys have been sent off to play and get out of the way.
But in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the world became more urbanised, and the man went out to work, and the woman stayed at home.
Now, looking after an urban dwelling, be it a flat or a small house, is not the same as looking after a farm. It is a lot easier.
And these days we have ever more labour saving devices, so a housewife is even less necessary.
In the old days for two children to survive and reproduce themselves, a woman might have to give birth to six. Every womb counted. Now, for two children to survive and reproduce, perhaps only three children are necessary. Therefore, reproductively speaking, only half as many women are needed.
Add to this a dowry system. A dowry may be a woman’s insurance in case of divorce, but it must be a considerable burden to a man with several daughters.
In a society where men go out to work and women stay at home, from being the most essential members of society, women have become luxury items.
Of course, Saudi Arabia, could create millions of unnecessary bureaucratic jobs for the women to do.
That has been our solution to feminine uselessness here in England, surely a more humane solution than murdering baby girls.
Or they could just let the girls have some fun.
After all, technology makes us all pretty useless.
Next they could be culling the boys too.