Gendercide: Killing of Baby Girls at Epidemic Levels

[Hootad Binky]

The number of girls continues to dramatically decline in India, China, and now Nepal and even Vietnam. Men will have trouble finding partners and wives in the future, with very real consequences, not just for frustrated males who can't find mates, but for women in neighboring areas at risk of sexual exploitation, abduction and forced marriage.

Why do some Asian/South Asian cultures persist with these practices? In the old days it involved infanticide, now it seems to involve private ultrasound sessions and abortions.

POPULATION-ASIA: Gendercide at Apocalyptic Levels - Experts
By Zofeen Ebrahim

HYDERABAD, India, Oct 29 (IPS) - Experts at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights are painting an apocalyptical vision of the Asian region where 163 million women are ‘missing’ and the sex ratio continues to decline as a result of easy access to modern gender selection techniques.

China tops the list of countries with a skewed sex ratio at birth (SRB) with just 100 females for every 120 males. India follows going by the country’s 2001 census, which revealed that the SRB had fallen to 108 males per 100 females.

Experts worry that unless action is taken, Nepal and Vietnam may soon have skewed SRBs. Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh are already beginning to follow Asia’s largest countries with people resorting to medical technology to do away with the girl child at the foetal stage.

"We place it (skewed SRB) in the context of discrimination against women," said Purnima Mane, deputy executive director UNFPA, while addressing the press. "Women are not valued.’’ She predicted that a continuing unhealthy SRB trend could lead to increased violence, migration and trafficking as well as greater pressures on women.

"When there is no economic recognition to women’s work and no social value attached to this particular gender, when resource sharing remains inequitable, when women are paid less then it becomes easier to do away with this gender,’’ said Renuka Chowdhry, India’s junior minister for women and child development, at the inaugural of the Oct 29-31 conference.

She called for increased women’s political participation and a push for laws and legislations that empower them as remedy to the adverse sex ratio. ‘’Don’t mess with nature, otherwise it will lead to a mutation of society,’’ she warned.

But where have all the girls gone? The sobering answer to the unbalanced SRB, according to the latest series of studies commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), lies in modern gender determination and selective abortions.

French demographer Christophe Guilmoto, author of the UNFPA’s regional report ‘Sex ratio Imbalance in Asia,’ based on studies conducted in China, India, Nepal and Vietnam and presented at the conference, referred to it as ‘gendercide’ in which millions of parents resort to a variety of techniques to ensure male offspring. Choosing gender had become easy with the arrival of amniocentesis in the lae 1970s and later with ultrasound imaging technologies.

In 2005, the estimated overall sex ratio was 107.5 males per 100 females in India, as against 106.8 in China, 106.0 in Pakistan and 104.9 in Bangladesh -- four countries that accounted for 43 percent of the world’s population in 2005.

The underlying reasons for the abnormal sex ratio in China, explained Baige Zhao, vice minister of that country’s National Population and Family Planning Commission, included the age-old bias for sons, a poor social security system in rural areas and a trend for smaller-sized families.

The draconian one-child policy imposed by China’s government at that time and the high cost of child rearing provided just the climate for abusing modern technology.

In India, discrimination against girls is more intense among urbanites and well-to-do families, while similar data from China indicate that sex selection appears more pronounced among peasants than among urban residents. In both India and China, education tends to be positively associated with discrimination against the girl child.

Perhaps that is why Gillian Greer, director-general at International Planned Parenthood Foundation, laid particular emphasis on "real investment in girls’ education" as a critical driver of development if they are to be saved from becoming "invisible and forgotten’’.

Interestingly Pakistan -- where abortion is illegal and unsafe abortions rampant -- does not yet have a sex selection problem. "The fewer studies that have been carried out all point to the fact that sex selective abortion is very rare. This could be because we have not been deluged by technology as in other countries in the region," explained Dr Yasmeen Sabeeh Qazi, country representative, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, Pakistan.

Pakistan also benefits from positive religious beliefs. ‘’One cannot ignore that such deeds (selective abortions) are considered sinful with great misfortune befalling those who commit such deeds. One of the commonest teachings of Prophet Mohammad, with which all Pakistanis are familiar, relates to not burying daughters alive (a practice in Arabia before the advent of Islam)."

The social ramifications of these private decisions will end up affecting everyone and a ‘masculinisation’ of Asia, predict specialists. There will be a vast army of surplus males causing a ‘marriage squeeze’ with the most underprivileged the worst off. With fewer women of marriageable age, men will have to delay marriage; it may also lead to a backlog of older unmarried men.

However, say experts, it is still not late to turn around the numbers. South Korea, after a period of 25-30 years, has brought back its SRB to normal levels through self-regulatory mechanisms and economic change. The South Korean government also contributed significantly to this.

The UNFPA study recommends keeping an eye on the private health sector which has played a major role in spreading gender selection technology, and a strict regulation of sex-determination procedures.

Many countries already have tight regulations. India started as early as 1983, followed by South Korea in 1987 and China in 1989. Nepal banned sex-selective abortions in 2002 when it liberalised its own law on abortions. But these laws have proved extremely difficult to enforce. India’s Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technology Act of 1994 prohibited both the use and advertising of gender determination techniques, but remains largely ignored. Reducing sex-ratio imbalances is better achieved through advocacy, sensitisation and awareness-raising programmes says the UNFPA report. "By targeting special groups, such as health personnel, young women and students," people’s mindsets and attitudes towards girls can be changed.’’

"The role of girls and women (in society) needs to be applauded," suggested Guilmoto.

"Supporting girls or those families that only have girls can take many forms -- direct subsidies at the time of birth, various scholarship programmes, gender-based quotas or financial incentives aimed at improving their economic situation," UNFPA recommends in its report.

POPULATION-ASIA: Gendercide at Apocalyptic Levels - Experts

[Texpat]

Not being flip, but with so many gays prancing around today, the disparity will be negligible. I think that's part of the reason there are so many "available" women in Thailand -- so many gay guys.
It will also have a positive affect on population control, last I checked, boys don't have babies.

[colourful-era]

good news for any budding bar girls - plenty of work for them in the future! - and long may the corruption continue.

[Marmite the Dog]

If this means less Chinks and Pakis, then that's a good thing, right?

[colourful-era]

some Chinese girls are nice looking though

[bar dog]

I lived for several years in Isaan and in our village there were 17 girls living in Bangkok and "somehow making very good money" They were good girls because they regularly sent money home to the family and supported them. My neighbour had two daughters and three sons. She told me quietly that she wished she had the choice because now girls are preferable to boys. She told my girlfriend that she was very lucky to have found a good (ie reasonably well off or in their eyes wealthy) farung boyfriend. She also told us that women who find they are pregnant are going to the clinic to get a sex test on the foetus and if it is a boy to have an abortion. This is now reverse selection based on economics - boys earn approximately 100Baht per day in the fields, about 150 baht on construction but girls get at least 2,000baht per week in a bar plus they sometimes come back to the village with a starry eyed farung husband in tow. In our village there were several guys in this position - all very happy with their little girlfriend and good luck to them and their extended family but is this going to extend to wholesale gendercide?

[Lily]

^Both sets of circumstances arise in societies that don't value women.

[barbaro]

^Both sets of circumstances arise in societies that don't value women.

But it seems, if Bardog is correct, that now abortions of boys are being conducted for the sole purpose of who can support the family, better.

Sounds like a selfish cultures in this respect. Understandably, with no social welfare system, people value their own lives, and in particular old age, by their children's ability to help them near the end.

[bar dog]

After I did my post I checked with my g/f how many people in her village are now in a permanent relationship with a farung. Out of a village of less than 60 families there are 12 being supported by a daughter who has a farung partner and 13 who works "in a bar".

The flow on effect is that the boys in the village cannot get girlfriends and the dowry has been raised out of their reach to pay. We have a niece who is hoping to find a nice farung man because she needs to support her mother because her father left them a couple of years ago for another (younger) woman in a different village. She is only 13 years old and is spending a lot of effort to learn English and Japanese at school to help her get a non Thai husband. Her brother is the current provider but he only earns 120 baht a day as a worker and until she helps with the payment he cannot possibly get enough money to find a wife of his own. He has settled on the reality that he will have to accept a woman from the area who would normally be second or third choice. Now they are the only ones who will take him as a husband.

[Lily]

But it seems, if Bardog is correct, that now abortions of boys are being conducted for the sole purpose of who can support the family, better.

Yes, but it comes from the same headset. One kills girls because they dont earn as much and one kills boys because their sisters can earn more as prostitutes.

If they valued their women more, women would earn more and be able to take care of their parents.

And if Thais valued their women more, they wouldn't be sending them off t brothels or trying to marry them off to farangs just because it is profitable for them.

[Texpat]

The whole idea of having children to support old folks is alien to me.
I would rather put a bullet in my head then ask my children for money.
The way I was brought up, parents help their kids. Full stop, one-way street.

It's bizarre and sad that a 13-year -old girl feels pressured to help her parents already. Those parents, in my opinion, are miserable failures.

[bar dog]

The whole idea of having children to support old folks is alien to me.
I would rather put a bullet in my head then ask my children for money.
The way I was brought up, parents help their kids. Full stop, one-way street.

It is the basic difference between a Western and an Asian mindset. In the West we get married, have kids and put a huge effort in time and money to educate our kids then send them out into the world to stand on their own two feet. When the kids are finally on their way out the door we try to put aside money to carry us in our retirement. In the Asian way they do something similar except the kids are expected to care for their parents when they are earning money and the parent has retired. In a society without pensions, unemployment or social welfare the only thing standing between them and starvation is family.

It's bizarre and sad that a 13-year -old girl feels pressured to help her parents already. Those parents, in my opinion, are miserable failures.

I think it has taken me 10 years to get my head around this and still it causes me problems. She is not being pressured, she is happy to do this because 1) it will give her a better life than she can expect with a poor farmer and 2) it will ensure her mother is taken care of in her old age. Lastly she wants to be able to give her older brother some money to help him afford a decent wife. Sometimes I feel I can follow their logic and they are being logical about it but it doesn't mean I agree with it. At the moment we (I) am supporting her to keep her in school because at age 13 as far as the family is concerned she has had enough school already and should be out there working to support the family. I am hoping that with time and my "bad" influence I will be able to point her into college/university and keep her out of a karaoke bar. I do however know from my own experience with Thai staff that I can pay a Uni graduate girl between 4,000 and 6,000 baht per month as a book keeper or she can earn double that in a karaoke place. Take away her education and she has no chance of getting a decent job and will either have to work on a farm or find alternative work.

Like it or loathe it, this is a cruel country for women and it never ceases to amaze me how well they deal with it.

[barbaro]

But it seems, if Bardog is correct, that now abortions of boys are being conducted for the sole purpose of who can support the family, better.

Yes, but it comes from the same headset. One kills girls because they dont earn as much and one kills boys because their sisters can earn more as prostitutes.

If they valued their women more, women would earn more and be able to take care of their parents.

And if Thais valued their women more, they wouldn't be sending them off t brothels or trying to marry them off to farangs just because it is profitable for them.

I agree that women could be valued more.

But also as a whole, I don't think people are valued the same way as in my native country.

People, in some ways, are objects to be used. Same as a son or daughter, and the Thai or Farang wife or husband they marry.

In 'Nam it seems even worse, but it's hard to compare.

[Hootad Binky]

Good points all round. Cheers to all for a thoughtful discussion.

It's true that Issan families wants girls; further, unlike India, one must pay more dowry to the girl's family. Also in India I believe parents need a son to light their funeral pyre. In China apparently the ancestors will be upset if the family lineage stops. So there are cultural as well as economic factors.

[Sir Burr]

^Both sets of circumstances arise in societies that don't value women.

The reasons for female infanticide are different for India and China.

In China, due to the one child policy, they value boys so that the name can be carried forward.

In India, where the parents of females have to pay extortionate dowrys, girls mean financial ruin.

[Hootad Binky]

In India, where the parents of females have to pay extortionate dowrys, girls mean financial ruin.

How can a culture be so unpragmatic? I mean, it's a common thing for some families to have mostly girls; how could such a strong cultural bias against girls evolve, since it so clearly does not serve the interests of a huge segment of the population?

[Sir Burr]

In India, where the parents of females have to pay extortionate dowrys, girls mean financial ruin.

How can a culture be so unpragmatic? I mean, it's a common thing for some families to have mostly girls; how could such a strong cultural bias against girls evolve, since it so clearly does not serve the interests of a huge segment of the population?

You could say that about the Caste system as well.

Dowries are now technically illegal, though the law is widely ignored.

[Texpat]

A classic case of applying modern western principles to backwater culturally-bankrupt societies. The downfall of our civilization methinks.

[Hootad Binky]

In India, where the parents of females have to pay extortionate dowrys, girls mean financial ruin.

How can a culture be so unpragmatic? I mean, it's a common thing for some families to have mostly girls; how could such a strong cultural bias against girls evolve, since it so clearly does not serve the interests of a huge segment of the population?

You could say that about the Caste system as well.

Dowries are now technically illegal, though the law is widely ignored.

I suppose the caste system reflects social stratification common to most societies; I made the mistake of mentioning it to some Indian nationals once and they were quite uncomfortable discussing it, because although they were quite open-minded and liberal in their ideas, they were from a privileged background, and the system served their needs quite nicely.