Page 480 - Essencials of Sociology

Population Growth 453

Cultural Diversity around the World

Killing Little Girls: An Ancient and

Thriving Practice

“The Mysterious Case of the Missing Girls” could have
been the title of this box. Around the globe, for every 100
births of girls, about 105 boys are born. In China, however,
for every 100 baby girls, the total jumps to 121 baby boys
(Last 2011). Given China’s huge population, this means
that China has about 30 million fewer females than males
under the age of 20 (Yardley 2010). What happened to the
30 million girls?
The answer is female infanticide, the killing of baby girls.
When a Chinese woman goes into labor, the village midwife
sometimes grabs a bucket of water. If the newborn is a girl,
she is plunged into the water before she can draw her first
breath.
At the root of China’s sexist infanticide is economics. The
people are poor, and they have no pensions. When parents
can no longer work, sons support them. In contrast, a daugh-
ter must be married off, at great expense, and at that point,
her obligations transfer to her husband and his family.
“Raising a girl is like watering someone else’s plant,” as
they say in India, where
female infanticide is also ground for political dis-
common. sent. To head this off, of-
In China, the past few ficials have
years have brought even begun a campaign to
larger percentages of boy stop the drowning of girl
babies. The reason, again, babies and the aborting
is economics, but this time of female fetuses.
with a new twist. When We find a similar situa-
China adopted capitalism, tion in India. For the same
travel and trade opened reasons, India has an extra
up—but primarily to men, 37 million men. Officials
since it is not thought ap- there, too, are concerned.
propriate for women to These additional men who
travel alone. With men cannot find wives, they
finding themselves in a say, are a major reason for
better position to bring sexual harassment and
money home, parents rape.
have one more reason to
want boys. Sources: Jordan 2000; Dug-
ger 2001; Riley 2004; Yardley
The gender ratio is so 2007, 2011; Harney 2011;
lopsided that for Chinese Targeting female fetuses for abortion has become a main issue of the emerging Sharma 2013.
in their 20s, there are feminist movement in India.
six bachelors for every
five potential brides. Politicians fear that the men who can- For Your Consideration
not marry—”bare branches,” as they call them—will become ↑ What do you think can be done to reduce female infanti-
disgruntled. Lacking the stabilizing influences of marriage cide? Why do you think this issue receives so little publicity
and children, these bare branches might become a breeding and is not a priority with world leaders?