Sex-ratio imbalance in China

Amartya Sen noticed that in China, rapid economic development went together with worsening female mortality and higher sex ratios. Although China has been traditionally discriminatory against women, a significant decline in China's female population happened after 1979, the year following implementation of the reform and opening up under Deng Xiaoping. Because of a strong son preference, these compulsory measures resulted in a neglect of girls and in some cases led to female infanticide. China did not appear to be systematizing sex-selective fertilization or pre-conception practices; it was therefore assumed that 10% of female children go missing at some point after conception: whether in utero, or in early infancy. A general crisis in health services arose after the economic reforms, as funding for China's extensive rural health care programs had previously largely come from agricultural production brigades and collectives. When the economic reforms abolished these traditional structures, they were replaced by the household-responsibility system, which meant that agriculture remained concentrated within the family and the availability of communal facilities in China's extensive rural health care system was restricted. Generally, the effect of a restriction in medical services was neutral, but in a Chinese rural society that looked up to men and down on women, the reduction in health care services significantly negatively affected women and female children. The household-responsibility system involved a reduction of women's involvement in paid agricultural labor. At the same time, employment opportunities outside agriculture were generally scarce for women. According to Sen's cooperative conflicts analysis, "who is doing productive work and who is contributing how much to the family's prosperity can be very influential", the effect of this systematic change on women within the household was negative, because women had fewer bargaining powers in their families. This reality motivated families to prefer boys over girls, which contributed to reduced care for female children. == Causes ==

The causes of the high sex ratio in China result from a combination of strong son preference, the one-child policy, easy access to sex-selective abortion, food scarcity, and discrimination against and abuses of females. Son preference in Chinese historical and traditional culture China's traditional Confucian patriarchal culture has a strong preference for sons over daughters. This preference stems from several perceptions: sons are seen as the continuation of the family line, the offering of ancestor worship, and the main heir to the inheritance. In contrast, daughters are often seen as financial burdens. After marriage, daughters usually become part of the husband's family and are no longer responsible for the care of elderly or sick parents. With socio-economic development, modernization, and the advancement of women, son preference has declined in many urban areas of China. However, in some strictly traditional families and rural areas, son preference still exists and has resurfaced under the one-child policy. The greatest shortfalls of females appear in parts of rural China, where there are instances of 140 male births for every 100 females. Although Mao had considered economists' suggestions in the mid-1950s about the possible establishment of a nationwide family planning organization, he later returned to advocating rapid population growth during the Great Leap Forward. The policy enacted a number of rules dictating the governmentally sanctioned composition of a Chinese family: each household was permitted one birth, and risked consequences ranging from fines to forced sterilization if they violated regulations. Allowances were also made for families in which the first and only child had a disability. The one-child policy has been called the "most momentous and far reaching in its implication for China's population and economic development." The reproductive freedoms of the Chinese population were utilized as a political tool for social modernization. The one-child policy highlighted a traditional preference for sons; its results included heightened rates of sex-selective abortion, female child abandonment, and, in some cases, female infanticide. The policy also resulted in an increased underreporting of female births and adoptions. and then by a three-child policy in 2021. Food scarcities One of the main factors that led to the creation of the One Child Policy was China's insurmountable food scarcity, which gave its government the authority to have unprecedented amounts of power over rural communities and their land ownership. Following 1956, the state or local governments claimed ownership of all rural lands through mandatory forfeitures and below-market-value compensations. As a result, farmers were limited in their ability to raise capital since they could not sell, rent, or buy land to make more economically viable tracts or use the land as collateral for loans. The government's control over land also decreased individual incentives to work hard, as the farmers could not make a profit from the crops they produced, consequently leading to large-scale starvation and a deepened divide between society's elite and its most vulnerable populations. Food shortage issues were further worsened by the successive droughts in the Yellow River Basin, Southwest and Southern China, the North China Plain, and the Yangtze River from 1958 to 1960. == Sources ==

Wifeless men Since prenatal sex determination became available in the mid-1980s, China has witnessed large cohorts of surplus males who were born at that time and are now of marriageable age. The estimated excess number of males was 2.3, 2.7, and 2.1 million in the years 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively. On occasion, families would adopt female infants as a way to secure a future bride for their sons. These girls would be raised by their adoptive families to learn how to care for and serve their future families. Since women tend to marry men in higher socioeconomic groups than their own, the shortage of women in the marriage market will leave the least desirable, the poorest, and uneducated men with no marriage prospects. These wifeless men's lives could be seriously influenced by how the public view them. Propensity to violence The future social effect of the guang gun remains a topic of concern. The majority of Chinese think that the guang gun are likely to affect criminal behavior. An early commentator predicted that, "such sexual crimes as forced marriages, girls stolen for wives, bigamy, visiting prostitutes, rape, adultery... homosexuality... and weird sexual habits appear to be unavoidable." Conversely, marriage reduces male criminality. Families in more rural parts of China resort to buying and selling kidnapped brides and forcing them to bear their sons' children. Although prostitution is illegal in China, there may appear expansion of female sex workers to meet increased demand of wifeless men. Based on a sample of 506 migrants, about half of them had multiple sex partners and 89% of these migrants did not use condoms. Initially, China's goal was to get the fertility rate down to the replacement level of 2.1 births per women, but the fertility rate continued to fall and it is now at 1.09 births per women. Demographers warn that fertility rates this low can hinder the development of a country and China has started to change their policies in order to increase their fertility rate and avoid any future adversity. In 2015, the Chinese government decided to change the one-child policy and implemented a two-child policy. Some researchers argue that son preference along with the one-child policy are one of the many contributing factors to an imbalanced sex ratio that has left millions of unmarried men unable to marry and start a family. Scholars and journalists from outside of China argue that simply dropping the one-child policy will help raise the number of girls born into China and thus raise the future fertility rate. Even though the two-child policy is now in act, couples are still choosing to remain a single-child household due to expensive childcare and women's increasing hesitance to leave their careers to raise a family. Aging population Large numbers of missing women also contribute to the problem of population ageing in China. Since females and males together are responsible for the social reproduction, People over 65 in China will account for 15% of the population between 2025 and 2030, while those over 60 will account for a quarter of the population in 2050. This rapidly increasing elderly population will also aggravate the social burden of the pension insurance system. Economic effects The long-term economic outcomes of China's missing women phenomenon are a source of diverse debate. Some scholars argue that, in the short term, declining fertility rates create an advantageous ratio of abundant producers to smaller populations who rely on that productivity (children, infants, pregnant women etc.). However, others argue that over time, as economically productive populations age, the number of dependents decreases and ratios tilt the other way. == Reactions ==

Change in laws and policies To control the imbalanced sex ratio, which is caused by the combined effects of son preference, sex-selective abortion, and one-child policy, the Chinese government has taken some effective measures. The results were also significant: a survey in 2007 showed that son preference had decreased in participating areas and the sex ratio at birth in the rural of Shanxi province fell from 135 in 2003 to 118 in 2007. The policy change has taken the pressure off parents to participate in sex-selective abortion or even avoiding registering female babies at birth, as they now have room for two children. Implementing the two-child policy has given families room to grow and control the population in the country, in a managed and more humane way. Although the two-child policy was implemented, the 35-year old social policy is unlikely to take part in a baby boom, in attempt to spark economic growth. The country is believed to be a true single society even when given the option to take part in extending their family count. The two-child policy is not expected to serve as a baby boom, but rather a moderate increase in fertility among Chinese women. There are still effects resulting from the one-child policy which the two-child policy is intended to attempt to reverse, including population aging, reduction in sex ratio birth, more oppressive elements of child policy, contributions to economic growth, and allowing freedom to couples to have their desired number of children. The Chinese government has implemented a policy to encourage women to have more children by providing cash subsidies to families. In mid-2025, the government began offering a subsidy of 3,600 yuan (GB£375; US$500) per child each year for all children born, until the child reaches the age of 3. The subsidy is retroactive for children born since January 1, 2025. Policy responses The Canadian Medical Association recommends solving the imbalance by outlawing sex selection. Many laws already forbid fetal sex determination throughout countries in Asia. The results of many campaigns such as the "Care for Girls" campaign on China, by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, encourages female births and requests participation from many neighboring countries. In one of the participating counties in Shanxi providence, the sex ratio birth was reduced from 135 in the year 2003 to 117 just three years later. Change in attitudes Although China's sex ratio at birth is still one of the highest in the world, growing evidence has shown that son preference in China is declining. In recent interviews, many young Chinese adults expressed the view that they do not care about the gender of their future child, even though son preference was common in their parents' generation. A recent study showed that among the 34% who do not claim to be gender indifferent, 13% (10% urban 16% rural) prefer a boy, and 21% (22% urban and 18% rural) want a girl. Hesketh points out that with the consideration of advantages of raising girls, including that they are easier to care for, easier to find a spouse for, and take good care of aging parents, gender indifference and girl preference increase in comparison with previous son preference. In the context of lower fertility and birth rates within China, the politics of gender equality have undergone an ambiguous, yet palpable change. With lower numbers of children requiring domestic responsibility, it might be assumed that women are able to break out of the childcare roles expected of them more often. However, studies have shown that social pressures placed on a single child limit (i.e. the tendency to view ones only child as the "be-all-end-all" heir on which the success of the family hinges) have created social pressures on mothers as well. Furthermore, lower fertility rates and higher rates of education work against the decline of Chinese cultural son preferences, which in turn create a more imbalanced sex ratio. Before the one child policy, with the advent of family planning, the encouragement of later marriages, lowered fertility rates, and more men than women also increased female sex trafficking; prostitution could be seen as a source of income for families with a single female child, or an opportunity for forced marriage in the case of wifeless men. == See also ==