Sex selection and global gender justice

In this paper, I argue for the need to resituate justice in debates on sex selection, such that the practice is addressed as a symptom of structural and global forms of gender-based injustice. The approach proposed is one of global justice, informed by the work of feminist scholars from the Global North and the Global South, and one which assumes that a universal normative approach is possible, that is attentive to the particularities of specific contexts. I argue for a reframing of sex selection by exploring three prevalent but, in my opinion, unsatisfactory framings: sex selection as feature of specific cultures and traditions, sex selection as an issue of development, and sex selection as mostly a matter individual autonomy and reproductive choice. Finally, I explore a means of addressing this specific expression of gender injustice through philosopher Iris Marion Young’s social connection model of responsibility. Enacting global gender justice in relation to sex selection requires focusing our moral lens on actors who are in positions of privilege, and therefore have the responsibility to change the norms, structures and practices which contribute to injustice.