A recent study published by the British Medical Journal has
uncovered a frightening gender imbalance in China’s youngest generations. With 120
boys born for every 100 girls—a gender difference that far surpasses any other
country in the world—China
now has 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20. And since the
largest discrepancy is found in children between the ages of one to four, that
number only promises to increase.
According to researchers, the disturbing trend is due almost
entirely to sex-selective abortions, which have became increasingly common
since ultrasounds became widely available in the mid-80s.
The problem, of course, is not reproductive choice. It’s China’s strict one-child policy,
combined with a severe, deeply rooted devaluing of females. Female infanticide, once relatively widespread
in China,
is now blessedly infrequent.
So while outlawing abortion will do nothing to quell
anti-girl sentiment in China,
a ban on sex-selective abortion must be enacted immediately. Such a pronounced
gender imbalance creates a dire situation for women, since the kidnapping and slave-trading
of women appears to rise directly with a lower proportion of eligible wives.
Photo: caswell.blogspot.com
