Shortage of girls in China today

One change that could weaken discrimination against daughters would be the creation of a rural system of social security, especially old-age security, and the strengthening of existing urban and rural pension systems. Adults in China now say that they need a son to ensure their welfare when they can no longer work. Not least, the role of domestic and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be recognized. In many other countries, NGOs have had great success in changing attitudes towards women and girls. Such groups could raise popular consciousness about the importance and value of daughters to their natal families in China.

Conclusion

The shortage of females in China predates the modern period and has lasted for centuries or even millennia. The errors in the data are minor; even after adjustments are made, the dearth of girls and women is real and extreme. Today, the losses happen before birth owing to sex-selective abortion, soon after birth through infanticide or abandonment, or in infancy or early childhood through neglect or maltreatment. From age four, females survive at normal rates compared with males, a marked improvement over old China.

Female foetuses and young daughters die prematurely through actions of their natal families. The dearth of girls is worse in rural than urban China, but city populations also practise sex-selective abortion and cause excess mortality of daughters. The national SRB is highly distorted at second and higher parities, but by 1999-2000 the SRB of firstborn children was abnormal, most notably in 12 of China's 31 provinces. Daughters are lost especially in families that already have one or more daughters but no sons, or more daughters than sons. Censuses from 1982 to 2000 show that certain parts of China have been and remain especially prone to disposing of daughters, especially Han Chinese provinces of China Proper and the province of Guangxi, home of the Zhuang minority.

This article has shown that the shortage of girls in China is not caused by poverty, even though economic considerations are given as part of the mixture of reasons for daughter losses. Neither China's political system nor its economic system is to blame, and further development will not necessarily solve the problem. It is not ignorance, illiteracy or poor education that brings people to abort or dispose of daughters; indeed, some evidence shows that higher educational level is associated with greater daughter losses. The traditional cause of China's shortage of females and the underlying cause today is the son preference endemic in Han Chinese culture, especially in some subcultures within Han regions, and in some minority cultures. Declining and low fertility has exacerbated the problem: in order to achieve the desired number of sons, parents are highly motivated to prevent or limit the birth or survival of daughters. Technology has worsened the situation by enabling sex-selective abortion, now added to the arsenal of those wishing to dispose of daughters. China's compulsory family planning program and one-child policy continue to make the shortage of girls more extreme than it otherwise would be.