The missing proportion of women

1While the one-child policy in China and the huge cost of dowry in India are often the two factors used to explain the lower female birth rate worldwide, the situation is in fact far more complex than that. This has been demonstrated by a team of demographers who, in 2008, compared the situation between the two countries. There seemed to be other mechanisms in place. To gain a better understanding of these mechanisms, the researchers examined the situation in other nations around the world, thus adding Vietnam, Albania, Kosovo, Armenia, Georgia and Indonesia to the map of prenatal discrimination against girls.

Group of female secondary school students, Indonesia.

••• China and India are not the only countries where more boys are born •••

2This comparative study gave rise to a theoretical framework in 2009, featuring the three pillars leading to the emergence of these practices, i.e. social preference for boys, access to technology capable of determining the sex of unborn children and fertility decline. When these three factors come together, demographic discrimination is set in motion, with varying intensity and temporality. The shortage of women is currently estimated at 120 million, either because they were not born or because they died in childhood due to lack of care.

3This is not without consequences for the future, as indicated by projections. In countries such as China or Azerbaijan, records show 115 boys born for every 100 girls. This surplus of men could result in the saturation of the marriage market, and this trend will only worsen with the accumulation of successive generations of single men. These results helped bring the discussion on prenatal discrimination out in the open. They prompted governments to enact policies ranging from public awareness campaigns to the training of ultrasound operators, and sometimes even a ban on parents-to-be being told the sex of their child.

Young women on the beach, India.

“In a country such as India, this major research on sex selection at birth or excess female mortality has shed light on this form of discrimination from an international viewpoint. These studies encourage Indian decision-makers to take steps to tackle these issues.  The results of this research are often used by Indian stakeholders who work in this field.” 
Nandita Saikia, Assistant Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi