Gender imbalance in populations

Asia-Russia
China's One Child Policy
By Alicia Burns
Oct 11, 2004

According to a report in the October 4, 2004 edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Chinese government is considering ending its "one child policy" due to demographic and fiscal concerns. As it stands, China is facing a population imbalance, with many more men than women, low birth rates, and a decreasing workforce that may be unable to support the social security programs elderly residents depend on. The government is currently studying plans to gradually phase-out the policy; one currently under consideration calls for ending the multiple births ban in eastern provinces with low birth rates first, followed by removal of the restriction in western provinces, the Straits Times reported.

The Chinese government began to regulate family size in 1980, after Chairman Mao Zedong's call for a population explosion led to overpopulation and a strain on resources. After the policy was implemented, forced abortions and infanticide became commonplace, as male children were deemed more valuable than females..........

China's One Child Policy

This one-child policy was not instituted the same way across the country. Where the imbalances were more uneven, in the country-side, they were allowed more children.

More on the one-child policy:



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Female Infanticide

Focus:
(1) India
(2) China

The phenomenon of female infanticide is as old as many cultures, and has likely accounted for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout history. It remains a critical concern in a number of "Third World" countries today, notably the two most populous countries on earth, China and India. In all cases, specifically female infanticide reflects the low status accorded to women in most parts of the world; it is arguably the most brutal and destructive manifestation of the anti-female bias that pervades "patriarchal" societies. It is closely linked to the phenomena of sex-selective abortion, which targets female fetuses almost exclusively, and neglect of girl children...........

Case Study: Female Infanticide

The Gender Imbalance in China

I. Intro to the Problem

A. One Child Policy

1. History

2. Consequences of having two children

3. Exceptions made for people in rural areas

B. China's need to have a boy

1. Carry on the family name

2. Boys have been seen as more important in Chinese culture for Decades.

II. The Chinese Desire to Conceive a Boy

A. Things people do to try to conceive a boy

1. Induced abortions if found out the baby is a girl

2. Gender selection by ultrasound

3. Although gender selection has been banned some doctors will provide the service for a fee as high a 1,000-Yuan.

B. Treatment of girls in China

1. Many girls are just dumped outside of orphanages

2. 99% of Chinese children adopted are girls

3. Many rural families think they will face a life of poverty if they don't have a boy, so girls are seen as a burden

III. The consequences of the Gender Imbalance

A. The lose of girls impact on china

1. There will be a lose of 40 to 60 million women in eight to ten years if nothing is done to solve the gender imbalance

2. An unbalanced sex structure will result in serious social problems

3. In the last 2,000 census there were 19million more boys than girls which will make if difficult for future men to find a wife.

4. In the future it is said that nearly 40 million men wont be able to find a wife, which will cause a rise in "bachelor villages"

IV. What is being done to try to correct the gender imbalance in China

A. Girl Care Project

1. This program is designed to encourage the birth of girls.

2. Their goal is to foster more respect and concern for women and girls.

3. The program tries to end pre-birth selection and help families with family planning

B. Benefits for Girls Program

1. This program is being launched in more than a dozen of China's poorest provinces

2. This program gives millions of dollars to girls so that they can attend school and be exempt from fees

3. Families who limit themselves to two girls would receive an annual pension of $150 for the rest of their lives and also health care, housing and employment.

source

........Sustained reductions in family size in the context of peace and social progress-were first witnessed in late eighteenth- century Europe. In the first half of the twentieth century, European countries unveiled another demographic first: non- catastrophic sub-replacement fertility. During the interwar period, a number of European states reported fertility patterns that, if continued, would lead to an eventual stabilization and indefinite population decline thereafter, absent offsetting immigration. These low fertility regimens were entirely voluntary: heretofore, such low birth Rates had virtually always been attended by war, pestilence, famine, or disaster. Europe experienced a baby boom after World War II, but sub-replacement fertility has now returned with a vengeance.

To maintain long-term population stability, a society's women must bear an average of about 2.1 children per lifetime.........

Surprises in Global Demography

When in china a few years ago, I went to a lecture on the One Child Policy, given by a government official who was surprisingly candid about how easy it is to get around the restrictions on the number of offspring allowed to a couple.

First of all, second births in cities are no longer forbidden...the couple must, rather, pay a hefty tax for second (or, rarely, third) child. In most cities educational opportunities for an "extra" child are (or were then) practically non-existent...schools only allowed a place for one child, so the other(s) must be home-schooled or use their sibling's school books to study late into the night. Most families (according to other Chinese I spoke with) were quite happy to follow the One Child Policy as wages were low and the cost of living in the cities would not permit them to support an extra person without great difficulty and sacrifice. The wealthier Chinese made quick and frequent use of bribes to officials to ensure the continuation of their lineage. Another ruse was to give a second or third child to a relative or friend and allow them to claim parentage. Often a childles couple would pay a female relative to bear them a child (with her own husband usually, but not always). If the area officials knew about this, they generally turned their heads to it.

In the countryside, mostly agricultural, larger families were permitted and in some areas actively encouraged so as to provide more hands for the fields. Mortality rates for infants were higher also, so having a "backup" made a lot of sense.

Certain ethnic groups were encouraged to have as many children as they could bear as their numbers were decreasing sharply....the Miao people immediately come to mind. With the end of the Mao Zedong era, ethnic pride and cultural diversity in China has become more and more important.

My two bits....

China Offers Parents Cash for Girls

China is offering to pay couples a premium for producing baby girls to counter an alarming gender imbalance created by the country's one-child population control policy.

Last year, 117 boys were born for every 100 girls in China, compared with a global average of 105 to 100.

Faced by a socially destabilising shortage of more than 30-million women by 2020........

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Thank you, Mahealani, for your personal insights.

Here's an interesting map that show's the differrent counties of the world and the male and female life expectancy. Also, infant mortality rates.

People Facts

In my home, there is a fifty fifty split.

Various statistics on world populations:

Population Country Ranks

Hi, Edgar. I've been trying to track down facts for population statistics by gender by country, but haven't found any yet.

I'm a little frusterated here.

Anybody got any ideas?

Not I, said the guy.

Here's the UN Statistics site as of 22 April 2005:

Population Statistics - Men/Women

Yes, excellent! That's exactly what I was looking for.

<big hug!>

Now, interestingly, the countries with the most and least women (percentage-wise) are:

Highest % of women to men
Ukraine; Latvia

Lowest % of women to men
Qatar; United Arab Emirates

United Nations Statistics

Further to the above post, other eastern block countries (of the former USSR) also had similar higher ratios, and other Arab countries had lower ones as well.

I wonder why that is?

Maybe we're like alligators, where the sex of offspring is determined by temperature, only we're in reverse...the colder the climate the more males and the warmer, the more females.

Interesting theory. Can you back up that statement with facts?