Final answer:
Skewed operational sex ratios can lead to increased crime and population growth in human societies and affect survival rates in animal populations. Government policies and cultural practices often result in these imbalances. Addressing gender stratification can involve significant political and social trade-offs.
Step-by-step explanation:
Skewed operational sex ratios promote various social and biological consequences within populations. In human societies, they can lead to increased crime rates and paradoxically drive up population growth rates because of the competition for mates. For example, sexist cultural attitudes, wars, and government policies, such as the One-Child Policy in China, and dowry systems in India, have contributed substantial imbalances. These imbalances can also be seen in animal populations. For instance, sex-biased culling of toads could lead to a preponderance of males, which may in turn reduce the survival rates of females due to intense sexual conflict.
In terms of broader societal aspects, gender stratification in the workplace, like the "motherhood penalty" and the "fatherhood premium", can be impacted by such imbalanced sex ratios. Efforts to lessen the effects of gender stratification, like promoting labor force participation and economic growth via investment in girls' education in less developed countries, may require political and social trade-offs.