Most Asia countries have male-biased sex imbalance resulting in a deficit described to as missing women. In China there has been a steady increase in the number of “missing women” Qian states that “an estimated 48.4 percent of the population in China and India are female”1. Most of the missing women in the world are in India and China where it is stated there is an estimated deficit of close to seventy million women. The sex imbalance has been documented in richer Asian countries like Taiwan and South Korea. The increase of sex imbalance in these countries has been attributed to neglect of the girl child, sex-selective abortion and infanticide. Additionally, the increase in female income into the share total of the household income has been
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When the one-child policy was introduced in the 1980s there was the introduction and extensive use of the Ultrasound B technology to detect an unborn child’s gender. The use of ultrasound technology has resulted in an increase in girl child mortality, sex-selective abortion, underreporting of hidden girls, infanticide or ultrasound because it made it easier for parents to detect the gender of a foetus. Ebenstein suggests that a consensus has been presented that demonstrates that the distortion in China’s sex ratio is due to the prenatal discrimination against the conceptions of female children2. In China’s cultural history large families favored their sons and family resources were given to them at the expense of their daughters. Different communities in Asia may favor the boy child over the girl child for various reasons. According to Deaton a research finding in Thailand suggested that adults discriminated against girls in favour of boys because adults are able to spend more money on adults’ goods when they have sons compared to when they have …show more content…
In the 1960s the missing women phenomenon was less conspicuous because there was a higher fertility rate and a lower mortality rate; therefore, mothers were more likely to have one surviving son without using the sex selection approach. Although the female deficit was reduced during this time, the population growth was unsustainable. During the 1970s, the Chinese government began promoting the two is enough policy which resulted in the sex ratio rise of the first and second-born daughter. According to Wei and Zhang “from the mid-1980s there was a steady increase in the sex imbalance and kept going higher over the next decades” 5.
There are different arguments on the future of missing women in China. Golley and Tyers argue that the sex ratio will level out in the next few years as male-based customs, gender discrimination and other Chinese practices that enable the vice weakens6. An example of the South Korea’s sex ratio rebalancing in the 2000s is cited as an example of the expected future trends that might result in the lowering the number of missing women in countries like China and
When the one-child policy was introduced in the 1980s there was the introduction and extensive use of the Ultrasound B technology to detect an unborn child’s gender. The use of ultrasound technology has resulted in an increase in girl child mortality, sex-selective abortion, underreporting of hidden girls, infanticide or ultrasound because it made it easier for parents to detect the gender of a foetus. Ebenstein suggests that a consensus has been presented that demonstrates that the distortion in China’s sex ratio is due to the prenatal discrimination against the conceptions of female children2. In China’s cultural history large families favored their sons and family resources were given to them at the expense of their daughters. Different communities in Asia may favor the boy child over the girl child for various reasons. According to Deaton a research finding in Thailand suggested that adults discriminated against girls in favour of boys because adults are able to spend more money on adults’ goods when they have sons compared to when they have …show more content…
In the 1960s the missing women phenomenon was less conspicuous because there was a higher fertility rate and a lower mortality rate; therefore, mothers were more likely to have one surviving son without using the sex selection approach. Although the female deficit was reduced during this time, the population growth was unsustainable. During the 1970s, the Chinese government began promoting the two is enough policy which resulted in the sex ratio rise of the first and second-born daughter. According to Wei and Zhang “from the mid-1980s there was a steady increase in the sex imbalance and kept going higher over the next decades” 5.
There are different arguments on the future of missing women in China. Golley and Tyers argue that the sex ratio will level out in the next few years as male-based customs, gender discrimination and other Chinese practices that enable the vice weakens6. An example of the South Korea’s sex ratio rebalancing in the 2000s is cited as an example of the expected future trends that might result in the lowering the number of missing women in countries like China and