In recognition of International Women’s Day, UNICEF published a photo essay on gender-biased sex selection in Armenia that Anush Babajanyan shot on assignment.
“Armenia has one of the world’s highest rates of gender-biased sex selection (GBSS) – preventing the birth of a child of the ‘undesirable’ gender. Girls are literally missing from families, classrooms and communities. Over the past seven years, an estimated 4,000 girls who would have been born in Armenia were not, due to a persistent preference for sons. That represents 4,000 losses – of life, of opportunities, and of potential.”