The Gender Imbalance of the One-Child Policy
How the One-Child Policy affected Chinese demographics.
November 10, 2015
1. Chinese culture has traditionally favored male offspring, especially in rural parts of the country.
2. Sons are preferred so that they can carry out farmwork, provide financial support for aging parents and ensure the continuance of the family name.
3. The One-Child Policy and other legal restrictions on fertility inadvertently placed an even higher premium on bearing male children.
4. Inexpensive ultrasound machines even in the countryside have made it possible for prospective parents to identify the gender of children and abort female fetuses.
5. In 2005, China had 119 male births for every 100 female births, according to a study published in 2009 in the British Medical Journal.
6. That was far above the 107 males for every 100 females born in industrialized countries.
7. Experts and policymakers fear that, as these boys reach adulthood, the relative scarcity of marriageable young women could result in an increase of crime and social instability.
8. The gender imbalance was vaguely hinted at in the October 2015 decision to change the national law to a Two-Child Policy.
9. Officials cited a need “to improve the balanced development of population.”
Source: The Globalist Research Center, The Globalist, British Medical Journal
Takeaways
The One-Child Policy in China inadvertently placed an even higher premium on bearing male children.
A relative scarcity of marriageable young women in China could result in crime and social instability.
In 2005, China had 119 male births for every 100 female births, according to a study.