DOCSLIB.ORG

Rethinking Son Preference Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’S Republic of China Eklund, Lisa

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rethinking Son Preference Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’S Republic of China Eklund, Lisa Rethinking Son Preference Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’s Republic of China Eklund, Lisa 2011 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Eklund, L. (2011). Rethinking Son Preference: Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’s Republic of China. Lund University Publication. Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Download date: 06. Oct. 2021 Rethinking Son Preference – Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’s Republic of China Lisa Eklund 2011 1 Lisa Eklund Rethinking Son Preference – Gender, Population Dynamics and Social Change in the People’s Republic of China Lisa Eklund 2011 Lund Dissertations in Sociology 96 1 A complete list of publications from the Department of Sociology, Lund University, can be found at the end of the book and at www.soc.lu.se/info/publ. Copyright © Lisa Eklund 2011 Typesetting Jonas Palm Cover design Lisa Eklund Cover photo Lisa Eklund Printed by Media-Tryck, Lunds universitet 2011 ISBN 978-91-7473-108-8 ISSN 1102-4712 Contents List of abbreviations ............................................................................................ 5 List of papers ....................................................................................................... 7 Preface................................................................................................................. 9 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 11 1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 13 Purpose of the study ............................................................................................... 14 Structure of the dissertation .................................................................................... 16 2. Methodology ................................................................................................. 17 Studying son preference .......................................................................................... 17 The empirical study ................................................................................................ 20 Secondary sources................................................................................................... 27 Positioning myself .................................................................................................. 27 3. Theoretical perspectives on son preference .................................................... 29 Conceptualising son preference ............................................................................... 29 Son preference as a gendered institution ................................................................... 30 Preliminary conclusions .......................................................................................... 41 4. The demographic tale of son preference ........................................................ 43 Prenatal daughter de-selection ................................................................................. 43 Postnatal daughter discrimination ........................................................................... 50 Consequences of skewed sex ratios ........................................................................... 54 The limitations of demographic indicators ............................................................... 55 Preliminary conclusions .......................................................................................... 56 3 5. Son preference in the PRC ............................................................................ 57 The Mao era .......................................................................................................... 57 Dismantling the communes .................................................................................... 63 The population policy ............................................................................................ 67 Rural-urban labour migration ................................................................................. 71 The Care for Girls Campaign ................................................................................. 77 Preliminary conclusions .......................................................................................... 78 6. Summary of papers ....................................................................................... 81 Paper 1: Cadres as gatekeepers – the art of opening the right doors? ........................... 81 Paper 2: Modelling prenatal son preference: some new perspectives from China ......... 82 Paper 3: Deconstructing notions of son preference – migration and social change in four Chinese villages ...................................................................................................... 83 Paper 4: ’Good citizens prefer daughters’: gender, rurality and the Care for Girls Campaign.............................................................................................................. 84 7. Concluding discussion .................................................................................. 87 Studying son preference in the PRC ........................................................................ 87 The narrative of son compulsion ............................................................................. 88 Gender reasoning revisited ...................................................................................... 91 Filial daughters? ..................................................................................................... 92 Son preference in an ageing society .......................................................................... 93 Transformations in the marriage institution ............................................................. 94 Policy and programmatic implications ..................................................................... 95 Some methodological concerns and future areas of study .......................................... 96 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................... 97 Glossary ............................................................................................................ 99 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 101 4 List of abbreviations CGC Care for Girls Campaign FGD Focus Group Discussion FP Family Planning GDI Gender-related Development Index HDI Human Development Index HRS Household Responsibility System IMR Infant Mortality Rate IVF In Vitro Fertilisation IUD Intra-uterine Device MDG Millennium Development Goal MOH Ministry of Health NPFPC National Population and Family Planning Commission OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PRC People’s Republic of China RH Reproductive Health SRB Sex Ratio at Birth TFR Total Fertility Rate TVE Township and Village Enterprises UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund 5 6 List of papers This dissertation is based on the following papers: Paper 1: Eklund, Lisa (2010) “Cadres as gatekeepers – the art of opening the right doors?” in G. Szarycz (ed.) Research Realities in the Social Sciences: Negotiating Fieldwork Dilemmas, Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, pp. 129-147. Paper 2: Eklund, Lisa (under review) “Modelling prenatal son preference: Some new perspectives from China”, Submitted to Population Review, 14 February 2011. Paper 3: Eklund, Lisa (under revision) “Deconstructing notions of son preference – migration and social change in four Chinese villages”, Submitted to Rural Sociology. Paper 4: Eklund, Lisa (forthcoming 2011) “’Good citizens prefer daughters’: gender, rurality and the Care for Girls Campaign”, in T. Jacka and S. Sargeson (eds.) Women, Gender And Rural Development In China. London: Edward Elgar, pp. 124-142. Papers 1 and 4 are reprinted with kind permission from the publishers. 7 8 Preface My interest in the issue of son preference and discrimination against girls was triggered and intensified by two personal encounters that I had during the course of the seven years I lived in China. The first incident happened in 1997, and became a real eye-opener for me. While studying at Peking University I had become friends with a young man called Lai who was a migrant working at the campus, and who had left his baby daughter and wife in his home village. During my studies at Peking
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Son Preference Or Son Pressure? Narratives of Fertility Decisions from Chinese Female Migrants Felicia Feng Tian Department of S
    Son Preference or Son Pressure? Narratives of Fertility Decisions from Chinese Female Migrants Felicia Feng Tian Department of Sociology Duke University Danielle Kane Department of Sociology and Anthropology DePauw University Ke Liang Department of Sociology and Anthropology Baruch College, The City University of New York 2 ABSTRACT Though son preference has been identified as a major determinant for the imbalanced sex ratios at birth in China, Little about how son preference influences fertility decisions. Most studies either assume Chinese parents prefer sons as rational choices because of sons’ higher wage-earning or the ability to provide old-age support, or for cultural reasons such as lineage preservation and prosperity. By exploring narratives of fertility decisions for 42 Chinese female migrants, this article argues that son preference is not an individual choice per se, nor a joint decision by the couple, but a pressure descending from the upper generation of the husband's family, from mothers-in-law in particular. The results suggest the importance of an intergenerational perspective in exploring son preference in the Chinese context. 3 The sex ratios at birth in China, as defined by the number of boys over 100 girls, has skyrocketed since the 1980s. The officially reported sex ratios at birth have increased from 108.5 in 1982, to 113.8 in 1990, 119.9 in 2000, and 120.5 in 2005 (National Bureau of Statistics 2007). The actual ratio could be slightly lower, if one considers the underreporting of daughters in censuses (Goodkind 2004, 2011; Zeng et al 1993). However, China's sex ratios at birth fall far out of reach of the biological stable range between 104 and 106 (Dyson 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights and China's Family Planning Policy: Direct and Indirect
    Human Rights and China’s Family Planning Policy: Direct and Indirect Effects on Women University of Oslo Faculty of Law Norwegian Centre for Human Rights MA Thesis in The Theory and Practice of Human Rights Candidate Number: 8029 Supervisor: Susanne Brandtstädter Co-Supervisor: Ingunn Ikdahl Deadline for submission: 18 May 2010 Number of words: 19,962 (max. 20,000) II Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the China Program at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, for their financial assistance during my time of study, feedback and advice, and for their help locating sources that would otherwise have proven challenging. My thanks also go out to my primary supervisor Susanne Brandstädter, for offering me new perspectives, informative conversations and assistance, and to my co-supervisor Ingunn Ikdahl, for her clarity and valuable advice. I would also like to thank Maria Lundberg and Tore Lindholm for their early advice and assistance in putting together a proposal for the China Program. Thanks always to my mother Delphine, for her ceaseless support and assistance, and unfailing faith in my abilities. My love and thanks to Skjalg, for all of his support and belief in me. And finally, thanks to all of my new friends here in Norway who have made this time so memorable and fun. III I Content LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS IV 1 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Research Objective 1 1.2 Context and Scope of Study 4 1.2.1 Human Rights and Policy in the Social Context: The Indirect Consequences of China‟s Birth Policy 4
    [Show full text]
  • Older Parents Enjoy Better Filial Piety and Care from Daughters Than Sons in China
    University of Southern Denmark Older parents enjoy better filial piety and care from daughters than sons in China Zeng, Yi; George, Linda; Sereny, Melanie; Gu, Danan; Vaupel, James W Published in: American Journal of Medical Research DOI: 10.22381/AJMR3120169 Publication date: 2016 Document version: Accepted manuscript Citation for pulished version (APA): Zeng, Y., George, L., Sereny, M., Gu, D., & Vaupel, J. W. (2016). Older parents enjoy better filial piety and care from daughters than sons in China. American Journal of Medical Research, 3(1), 244-272. https://doi.org/10.22381/AJMR3120169 Go to publication entry in University of Southern Denmark's Research Portal Terms of use This work is brought to you by the University of Southern Denmark. Unless otherwise specified it has been shared according to the terms for self-archiving. If no other license is stated, these terms apply: • You may download this work for personal use only. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying this open access version If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details and we will investigate your claim. Please direct all enquiries to [email protected] Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author Am J Med Manuscript Author Res (N Y). Author Manuscript Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 May 19. Published in final edited form as: Am J Med Res (N Y). 2016 ; 3(1): 244–272. doi:10.22381/AJMR3120169.
    [Show full text]
  • Son Preference and Human Capital Investment Among China's Rural-Urban Migrant Households
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Lin, Carl; Sun, Yan; Xing, Chunbing Working Paper Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China's Rural-Urban Migrant Households IZA Discussion Papers, No. 11930 Provided in Cooperation with: IZA – Institute of Labor Economics Suggested Citation: Lin, Carl; Sun, Yan; Xing, Chunbing (2018) : Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China's Rural-Urban Migrant Households, IZA Discussion Papers, No. 11930, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/193224 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 11930 Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households Carl Lin Yan Sun Chunbing Xing OCTOBER 2018 DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No.
    [Show full text]
  • A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DE
    Yixuan Li's Thesis of Three Chapters Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Li, Yixuan Citation Li, Yixuan. (2020). Yixuan Li's Thesis of Three Chapters (Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA). Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 09:05:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/656754 YIXUAN LI’S THESIS OF THREE CHAPTERS by Yixuan Li __________________________ Copyright © Yixuan Li 2020 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2020 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to University of Arizona for letting me fulfill my dream of being a student here. I would also like to thank the Economics Department for giving me opportunity to write an honors thesis. To my committee, Price V. Fishback, Hidehiko Ichimura, Juan Panato, Evan J. Taylor, I am extremely grateful for your assistance and suggestions throughout my project. To the staff at the Economics Department, thank you—especially to Jessamyn Schaller, Gary Solon, Mo Xiao, Ashley Langer, and Tiemen Woutersen for giving me words of encouragement and helpful suggestions on my research. I want to thank my co- author of chapter 2--Yang Jiao and Mengdi Liu for their cooperation on our project.
    [Show full text]
  • Son Preference and Human Capital Investment Among China's Rural
    DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 11930 Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households Carl Lin Yan Sun Chunbing Xing OCTOBER 2018 DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 11930 Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households Carl Lin Bucknell University, China Institute for Income Distribution and IZA Yan Sun Beijing Normal University Chunbing Xing Beijing Normal University, China Institute for Income Distribution and IZA OCTOBER 2018 Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world’s largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. IZA – Institute of Labor Economics Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5–9 Phone: +49-228-3894-0 53113 Bonn, Germany Email: [email protected] www.iza.org IZA DP No. 11930 OCTOBER 2018 ABSTRACT Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China’s Rural-Urban Migrant Households We use several datasets to study whether son preference prevails in the human capital investment among Chinese rural-urban migrant households.
    [Show full text]
  • Does Religion Matter? a Study of Regional Variations in Sex Ratios at Birth in China
    Does Religion Matter? A Study of Regional Variations in Sex Ratios at Birth in China Yunping Tong Purdue University Abstract: The sex ratio at birth in China has been increasingly imbalanced since the 1970s when the government implemented a policy to reduce population growth. To explain regional variations in the ratio, existing scholarship tends to focus on economic development for its weakening effect on the Confucian tradition of son preference. However, a perspective which focuses merely on economic development without considering the local religious context yields only a limited understanding of the causes of imbalanced ratios. Considering the rapid growth of religion in China, it is of considerable interest to explore if religion shapes sex ratios at birth. This project bridges this scholarly gap by examining the association between county sex ratios at birth and the presence of each religion using data from the 2000 China Population Census and the 2004 China Economic Census. Applying a spatial error model, this study shows that ratios in counties with more Daoist organizations tend to more imbalanced, while those with more Buddhist and Islamic organizations less imbalanced. Keywords: Sex ratio at birth, religion, spatial analysis 1 Introduction The sex ratio at birth in China has been abnormally high since the 1970s. Concerned with the shortage of food for a large population size, China’s government started the nation-wide birth planning campaign, also known as the “later (late marriage), longer (greater intervals between permitted births), fewer (no more than two children for urban residents and three for rural ones)” program (Whyte et al.
    [Show full text]
  • India, and the Republic of Korea
    POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 2942 Public Disclosure Authorized Why is Son Preference so Persistent in East and South Asia? Public Disclosure Authorized A Cross-Country Study of China, India, and the Republic of Korea Monica Das Gupta Jiang Zhenghua Li Bobua Xie Zbenming Woo/in Chung Public Disclosure Authorized Bae Hwa-Ok The World Bank Development Research Group Public Disclosure Authorized Public Services and Rural Development December 2002 IPOLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 2942 Abstract Son preference has persisted in the face of sweeping change these incentives without more direct efforts by economic and social changes in China, India, and the the state and civil society to increase the flexibility of the Republic of Korea. The authors attribute this to their kinship system such that daughters and sons can be similar family systems, which generate strong perceived as being more equally valuable. Much can be disincentives to raise daughters while valuing adult done to this end through social movements, legislation, women's contributions to the household. Urbanization, and the mass media. female education, and employment can only slowly This paper-a joint product of Public Services and Rural Development, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study social institutions and development outcomes. Copies of the paper are available free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. Please contact Monica Das Gupta, room MC3-633, telephone 202-473-1983, fax 202-522-1153, email address [email protected]. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org.
    [Show full text]
  • Sex Preference for Children Sex
    SEX PREFERENCE FOR CHILDREN AND GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN ASIA January 1996 KOREA INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS UNITED NATIONS POPULATION FUND (UNFPA) PREFACE The Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) has organised a series of international seminars and symposia on emerging issues arising from the rapid fertility decline that has occurred throughout most of Asia. Thus in 1991 KIHASA organised an International Seminar on the consequences of fertility decline with respect to the implications for the family and the elderly. In 1993 a follow-up International Seminar was organised on the socio-economic and cultural consequences of replacement and below replacement level fertility. The proceedings of these two seminars were subsequently published by KIHASA respectively as, Impact of Fertility Decline on Population Policies and Programme Strategies, and Low Fertility in East and Southeast Asia: Issues and Policies. One of the issues that came to light during the 1993 Seminar was an indication that the sex ratio at birth was rising in several of the low fertility countries of East Asia, notable among them being China, the Chinese Province of Taiwan and the Republic of Korea where figures on sex ratios at birth of higher than 110 boys per 100 girls had been recorded. Although the sex ratio at first birth has generally remained around the expected level, it tends to increase sharply with increasing birth order, which appears to be evidence of sex preference for children. Towards the end of 1994 an International Symposium on Issues Related to Sex Preference for Children in the Rapidly Changing Demographic Dynamics in Asia was held to consider a number of important issues related to sex preference for children and gender discrimination in Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • Son Preference and Second Birth in China
    Son Preference and Second Birth in China Zhang Wenhua Manuscript for Master’s Thesis in Sociological Demography Stockholm, October 20, 2011 Supervisor: Gunnar Andersson Son Preference and Second Birth in China Zhang Wenhua Abstract Preference for bearing sons is a common social custom and cultural tradition in China. In 1979, China installed the stringent one-child policy which firmly controls second and higher order birth, although with a few exceptions which allow couples to have two children. Thus to explore son preference value and its connection with second order birth is of great interest. With birth history data of 2412 women between 18 to 52 years old from 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) conducted in 9 provinces, this paper examines son preference from the effects of sex of the first child on women's second birth risks from 1972 -2006 through multivariate analysis. Second birth risks are estimated by multiplicative intensity regression model. Sex of the first child is the major covariate in this paper, together with control variables of women's age, educational level, calendar year, household registration (Hukou), urban/rural residence, number of women's siblings and second birth interval. Structures of the effects of son preference in second birth rates are explored through interactions between sex of the first child and other covariates. Results show that rather than policy eligibility, son preference has strong impacts on risks of having another child, independent of individual demographic and socio-economic factors. When fertility is low, such as below-replacement fertility period from early 1990s, older ages in women's fertility career and last few years during the second birth spacing, motives to have a son plays an increasingly important role in women's second birth decisions.
    [Show full text]
  • Fertility Trends, Sex Ratios, and Son Preference Among Han and Minority Households in Rural China
    Asian Anthropology ISSN: 1683-478X (Print) 2168-4227 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raan20 Fertility trends, sex ratios, and son preference among Han and minority households in rural China Bryan Tilt, Xiaoyue Li & Edwin A. Schmitt To cite this article: Bryan Tilt, Xiaoyue Li & Edwin A. Schmitt (2019) Fertility trends, sex ratios, and son preference among Han and minority households in rural China, Asian Anthropology, 18:2, 110-128, DOI: 10.1080/1683478X.2019.1588199 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2019.1588199 Published online: 27 Jun 2019. Submit your article to this journal View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=raan20 ASIAN ANTHROPOLOGY 2019, VOL. 18, NO. 2, 110–128 https://doi.org/10.1080/1683478X.2019.1588199 Fertility trends, sex ratios, and son preference among Han and minority households in rural China Bryan Tilta , Xiaoyue Lia and Edwin A. Schmittb aDepartment of Anthropology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA; bDepartment of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This paper presents new insights into contemporary Chinese dem- Fertility and sex ratios; son ography and family life based on survey and interview data from preference; ethnic rural households in Yunnan Province, China’s most ethnically and minorities; population linguistically diverse region. Using both quantitative and qualita- policy; China tive data, we examine fertility trends, sex ratios, and son preferen- ces in our study sample. We analyze differences between the majority Han and various ethnic minority groups that have been subject to less stringent family-planning policies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of Sex Ratio at Birth in China
    Fertility Squeeze and Gender Bias: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Birth Planning Policy and Sex Ratio at Birth in China Juhua Yang Professor of Demography Center for Population and Development Studies Renmin University of China Beijing 100872, P. R. China [email protected] [email protected] Cell phone: 15811206322 Abstract By adopting a multi-method approach, this paper examines the relationship between birth planning policy and sex ratio at birth in China. Analysis of focus group interview and in-depth interview data provides insights on how the policy restrictiveness generates fertility squeeze, and the 1.5-child policy exacerbates gender bias, both leaving people with son preference little choice but to abort female fetuses, particularly the second and higher order fetuses. Analytical results from 2000 prefecture-level and 2005 individual-level data depict an inverse U-shape relationship, while varying by parity, between policy and sex ratio at birth: it is the highest with the 1.5-child policy, followed by a strict one-child policy, and finally two-child policy. Aborting female fetuses meets both the policy demand to have few children and individual demand to have a son. A less restricitve policy without gender bias is, therefore, necessary, while insufficient, to facilitate this ratio back to normality. Keywords: Birth planning policy; Fertility squeeze; Gender bias; Sex ratio at birth; China 1 Since the early 1980s, a new phenomenon has emerged in the process of demographic transition among Asian countries or regions with son preference: sex ratio at birth (SRB) were abnormal at some points of time (e.g., Singapore, Korea and Taiwan) or still has been abnormal presently (e.g., Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Georgia, India, Vietnam) (Mesle, Vallin, and Badurashvili 2007).
    [Show full text]