Summary

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.

It is now fashionable to hear discussions centring on the disproportionate representation of males and females in the population. It is indeed not uncommon to hear people say that for every man there are about two or three women; so, every man can marry more than one woman. This theory is, of course, more popular among adherents who favour the seeming glamour of the polygamous way of life. The big question is “How correct is this theory?”And, what are the facts?

The stark reality is that in any normal population, out of every one hundred conceptions, about fifty-three to fifty-five are for boys, and about forty-five to forty- seven are for girls. So, there are potentially more boys than girls in a normal population. However, because of many factors, some of which are not fully clear, the foetus of a boy is far more fragile than that of a girl. So, there are more miscarriages of male children than female ones. So, by the time the children are born, the ratio between boys and girls has been reduced to about fifty-two boys and forty-eight girls.

As infants, boys are more delicate than girls. Boys are less resistant to certain killer diseases and girls thus have a higher chance of survival. The result is that before adolescence, at about the age between nine and eleven years, boys and girls are virtually at par in the population.

Throughout adolescence, from the age of twelve to nineteen years, boys continue to fall victim to many ailments at a much higher degree than girls do. Besides, boys’ tendency to be more adventurous, more daring and more risk-taking, exposes them far more to mishaps. Some of these do reduce their representation in the population. So, by the end of the age of adolescence, there are slightly more girls than boys. The reduction, thereafter, in the number of males continues progressively. Men are the breadwinners, the soldiers and the travellers. It is during their middle age that very many men die tragically, as soldiers in their boots, so to speak. The net result of this is that by the time they are in their mid-thirties and forties, there are more women than men.

Finally, in their late forties, far more men than women die of cardiac diseases like hypertension, heart attack and anxiety. This is the period when there are clearly more widows than widowers.

On the whole, therefore, there are more females than males but certainly not in the proportion claimed by adherents of polygamy. During their marriageable years, there are about eleven wives to ten husbands that is husbands and wives of the same age. In some communities, one man could marry as many as fifteen wives as a result of the fact that men normally marry from among the ladies younger than they are. This, more than any other factor, allows some men who are inclined to polygamy to have their way.

Questions and Answers

1. In five sentences, one for each factor, summarize the factors responsible for the progressive reduction in the number of males as against females from conception to adulthood.

A – The factors responsible for the progressive reduction in the number of males as against females are:

i.      There are more miscarriages involving male babies than those involving female babies.

ii.     Boys are less resistant to killer diseases than girls.

iii.    Boys are more daring and take more risks than girls which exposes boys to more mishaps.

iv.    Many men die tragically during their middle ages.

v.     Far more men die from cardiac diseases like hypertension or heart attack than women die from cardiac diseases in their late forties and fifties.

2. In one sentence, state why some form of polygamy is possible in a normal population.

A – Some form of polygamy is possible in a normal population because men normally marry ladies who are younger than they are.