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Gendercide: The War On Baby Girls Winds Down

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Gendercide: The War On Baby Girls Winds Down
The article “Gendercide: The War on Baby Girls Winds Down” by The Economist iterates how past trends in sex-selective fertility have recently changed to produce a more equal sex ratio at birth in countries including South Korea, China, Pakistan, Vietnam, and South Caucasus due to ideological changes (Gendercide: The war on baby girls winds down, 2017). Even though these changes are leading to a more natural sex ratio, decades of sex-selective fertility have lasting impacts on population aging and structure.
Without manipulation, the sex ratio at birth is very constant at 105 males for every 100 females born (Hesketh and Xing, 2006, pg. 13272). However, cultural traditions of son preference have skewed the sex ratio at birth for decades. Son …show more content…
Potential explanations for this trend are from urbanization, contribution in old age support, and education through television. With urbanization, sons typically live apart from their parents earlier and therefore do not help out as much around the home. Additionally, women are increasingly contributing to old age support to their parents and are thus more favorably viewed. Lastly, in India, popular equality-themed soap operas are a source of education on infanticide because of long-term airing; controlled studies have revealed a reduced son preference in Indian populations that regularly watch them (Gendercide: The war on baby girls winds down, …show more content…
Throughout the developing world, there are an estimated 100 million women missing from the population. The highest percentages of these missing women are concentrated in areas of India (Hesketh and Xing, 2006, pg. 13272). Another consequence is seen in future reproduction. Birth cohorts with a high male sex ratio will age into a competitive martial world where many will not be able to find a partner nor raise a family (Hesketh and Xing, 2006, pg. 13272). In societies where being married is the status quo, these unmarried men may feel
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