9781422274002

One might think that modern governments and technology would improve this situation, but this has not been the case so far. China had a one-child policy that began in 1979 and officially ended on January 1, 2016. Medical technology, like ever-improving ultrasounds, makes it easier for parents to find out the baby’s gender and abort girls. Some Chinese parents who discover they are having a girl will abort the baby, kill it at birth, or abandon her to die. Although China formally altered its policy in 2016 to allow parents a second child if their first child was a girl, it seems as if parents still don’t want to incur the expense of raising two children. This has led to tremendous gender imbalance in these countries. For instance, India has 50 million more men than women. In China there might be 140 men for every 100 women. There are not enough women for the men to marry, meaning the sons are unable to have children to carry on the family name. Crimes and violence against women have also risen; rape and domestic abuse are common, and women are killed for not giving birth to sons.

China’s one-child policy meant that boys were wanted more than girls. This led to an imbalance between the sexes.

ASIA TODAY 13

Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease