Introduction
India and China are the two most populous countries in the world. Both countries are located within Asia, with rich cultural heritage spanning over many centuries. India is run by a democratic government, whereas China is still largely a communist state. In view of their large populations, with India being 1,236,344,631 (As of July 2014) and China being 1,355,692,576 (As of July 2014), there are many factors that will impact the population growth of these countries, and many implications of the population growth. The belief that we will be looking at the preference of males over females in India and China, and how it causes Female Infanticide as well as its present and future implications on population growth.
Causes
The main reason, which is shared by both countries, that female infanticide occurs is due to the age-old belief in India and China that males are regarded with higher social statuses than females, and that female children are seen as economic burdens to the family. By understanding basis of this belief, we will be able to further understand how it causes female infanticide.
Till today, in India the reason behind female infanticide is mainly economic—daughters will require a large financial dowry in order to marry her groom. Since daughters leave their families of origin, they are often regarded as temporary members of their families and a drain on its wealth. (DomesticViolenceServices.com, -)
There is also a gender bias in India, and men are seen to have more power and useful to the family due to physical strength, thus poor families who are unable to afford two children will likely keep the male one. Thus, many female infants are killed at birth by families who wish to avoid the dowry payment and the financial burdens having a female child.
In 1979, China implemented a highly intrusive "One-Child" policy to limit the number of births per family. Couples are pressured to terminate “unauthorized” pregnancies, and this has occurred even in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy. After the introduction of the one-child policy, the fertility rate in China fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 to 1.61 in 2009. In Chinese society, sons are the considered as the meaning of continuity, prosperity, and the only valid source of care and support. If a couple has only one child, and she is a girl, there will be no one to care for the parents as they age, as she would have been married off to another family. This “One-Child Policy” reinforced the belief that males are more important than females, as it became common that female infants are aborted or killed due to the policy.Thus, as many families wish to have a male instead of a female child, they will choose to either kill or abandon the female infants they have so that they will be able to get a male child instead.
The ways of carrying out female infanticide are numerous and varied in both countries, and we will be exploring them later.
How Female Infanticide is carried out
In India, some people strangle infants until they suffocate and die. Other infants are killed by abandonment, leaving the infant in a place with no shelter, food and water and letting it to die from exposure. Most female foetuses are killed by abortion as medical advancements in the 20th century allows abortion to be safe and widespread.
In China, most infants are killed via gender selective abortion. Some babies are drowned in a tub of water soon after birth, while many people in rural areas choose to bury the infants alive as it is less messy. Sometimes babies are also killed by strangling and exposure, similar to the case of India.
So, if so many females are killed at birth, what long-term or short-term effects will it bring to the overall population of a country?
Effects of Female Infanticide
The practice of female infanticide causes the population to shrink as the gender ratio becomes imbalanced and there is a shortage of females, meaning there will be a shortage of wives for the males to bear children and contribute to the population growth of the country.
Research shows that India has lost 12 million females due selective abortions in the last three decades.Further research shows that it results in a gender imbalance with a gender ratio of 1.12 males to one female, and 1.13 males to one female under 15 years old. There is overall 37 million more males than females in India.
Similar to India, the practice in China is significantly creating a gender imbalance with a gender ratio of 1.12 males to a female at birth, and 1.17 males to one female under 15 years old. There is overall 50 million more males than females in China.
This shows that there will be an excess of males who will be unable to find wives in both the countries due to the large number of females lost to female infanticide. The subsequent decrease in population caused by this phenomenon will affect the economy of the country as the workforce shrinks and the population ages. It might also lead to further gender discrimination towards women as males will become the absolute majority of the country, and thus are perceived as more important than females, which would lead to an even greater gender imbalance and a smaller workforce as the cycle continues. It would be harder for the country to provide for the aging population while its population shrinks, and thus that would in turn bring a large economic burden to the country that likely cannot be resolved due to the lack of manpower.
However, with a lower population growth rate,female infanticide is likely to decrease as governments will be trying to encourage greater population growth by coming up with many plans and schemes to protect females so that population growth can occur. The schemes might include financial incentives for families, which would likely encourage them to keep their female infants, thus reducing female infanticide.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this comparative analysis has taken look at female infanticide in both China and India, mainly the causes, methods and effects of it.
As we can see, the belief that males have higher social statuses and more important roles in society than females causes the occurrence of female infanticide. In turn, female infanticide has significant effects on the population growth of the two countries. The population growth of the countries then also impacts the presence of female infanticide. These two phenomenons-population growth and female infanticide are closely intertwined and if not addressed properly, and might even cause the decline of these two most populous countries in the world.
References
China Demographics Profile 2014. (2014, August 23). Retrieved April 2015, from Index Mundi: http://www.indexmundi.com/china/demographics_profile.html
Fox News. (2007, June 13). Infanticide, Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing in Asia. Retrieved March 2015, from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/06/13/infanticide-abortion-responsible-for-60-million-girls-missing-in-asia/
Jones, A. (1999-2013). Case Study: Female Infanticide. Retrieved March -, 2015, from Gendercide Watch: http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html
Mashru, R. (2012, January 18). It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World. Retrieved March 2015, from The Independent: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/16/it%E2%80%99s-a-girl-the-three-deadliest-words-in-the-world/
Rosenberg, M. (2015). Sex Ratio Overview. Retrieved March 2015, from About Education: http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/sexratio.htm
Tsai, T. (n.d.). China Has Too Many Bachelors. Retrieved March 2015, from Population Reference Bureau: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/china-census-excess-males.aspx
Yonder, J. D. (1994). Jstor: Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 2, (Jun., 1994), pp. 150-159. Retrieved April 2015, from Jstor: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2786708?sid=21105894495801&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3738992
DomesticViolenceServices.com. (- -, -). Female Infanticide in India and China. Retrieved - March, 2015 from DomesticViolenceServices.com: http://www.domesticviolenceservices.com/female-infanticide.html
India and China are the two most populous countries in the world. Both countries are located within Asia, with rich cultural heritage spanning over many centuries. India is run by a democratic government, whereas China is still largely a communist state. In view of their large populations, with India being 1,236,344,631 (As of July 2014) and China being 1,355,692,576 (As of July 2014), there are many factors that will impact the population growth of these countries, and many implications of the population growth. The belief that we will be looking at the preference of males over females in India and China, and how it causes Female Infanticide as well as its present and future implications on population growth.
Causes
The main reason, which is shared by both countries, that female infanticide occurs is due to the age-old belief in India and China that males are regarded with higher social statuses than females, and that female children are seen as economic burdens to the family. By understanding basis of this belief, we will be able to further understand how it causes female infanticide.
Till today, in India the reason behind female infanticide is mainly economic—daughters will require a large financial dowry in order to marry her groom. Since daughters leave their families of origin, they are often regarded as temporary members of their families and a drain on its wealth. (DomesticViolenceServices.com, -)
There is also a gender bias in India, and men are seen to have more power and useful to the family due to physical strength, thus poor families who are unable to afford two children will likely keep the male one. Thus, many female infants are killed at birth by families who wish to avoid the dowry payment and the financial burdens having a female child.
In 1979, China implemented a highly intrusive "One-Child" policy to limit the number of births per family. Couples are pressured to terminate “unauthorized” pregnancies, and this has occurred even in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy. After the introduction of the one-child policy, the fertility rate in China fell from 2.63 births per woman in 1980 to 1.61 in 2009. In Chinese society, sons are the considered as the meaning of continuity, prosperity, and the only valid source of care and support. If a couple has only one child, and she is a girl, there will be no one to care for the parents as they age, as she would have been married off to another family. This “One-Child Policy” reinforced the belief that males are more important than females, as it became common that female infants are aborted or killed due to the policy.Thus, as many families wish to have a male instead of a female child, they will choose to either kill or abandon the female infants they have so that they will be able to get a male child instead.
The ways of carrying out female infanticide are numerous and varied in both countries, and we will be exploring them later.
How Female Infanticide is carried out
In India, some people strangle infants until they suffocate and die. Other infants are killed by abandonment, leaving the infant in a place with no shelter, food and water and letting it to die from exposure. Most female foetuses are killed by abortion as medical advancements in the 20th century allows abortion to be safe and widespread.
In China, most infants are killed via gender selective abortion. Some babies are drowned in a tub of water soon after birth, while many people in rural areas choose to bury the infants alive as it is less messy. Sometimes babies are also killed by strangling and exposure, similar to the case of India.
So, if so many females are killed at birth, what long-term or short-term effects will it bring to the overall population of a country?
Effects of Female Infanticide
The practice of female infanticide causes the population to shrink as the gender ratio becomes imbalanced and there is a shortage of females, meaning there will be a shortage of wives for the males to bear children and contribute to the population growth of the country.
Research shows that India has lost 12 million females due selective abortions in the last three decades.Further research shows that it results in a gender imbalance with a gender ratio of 1.12 males to one female, and 1.13 males to one female under 15 years old. There is overall 37 million more males than females in India.
Similar to India, the practice in China is significantly creating a gender imbalance with a gender ratio of 1.12 males to a female at birth, and 1.17 males to one female under 15 years old. There is overall 50 million more males than females in China.
This shows that there will be an excess of males who will be unable to find wives in both the countries due to the large number of females lost to female infanticide. The subsequent decrease in population caused by this phenomenon will affect the economy of the country as the workforce shrinks and the population ages. It might also lead to further gender discrimination towards women as males will become the absolute majority of the country, and thus are perceived as more important than females, which would lead to an even greater gender imbalance and a smaller workforce as the cycle continues. It would be harder for the country to provide for the aging population while its population shrinks, and thus that would in turn bring a large economic burden to the country that likely cannot be resolved due to the lack of manpower.
However, with a lower population growth rate,female infanticide is likely to decrease as governments will be trying to encourage greater population growth by coming up with many plans and schemes to protect females so that population growth can occur. The schemes might include financial incentives for families, which would likely encourage them to keep their female infants, thus reducing female infanticide.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this comparative analysis has taken look at female infanticide in both China and India, mainly the causes, methods and effects of it.
As we can see, the belief that males have higher social statuses and more important roles in society than females causes the occurrence of female infanticide. In turn, female infanticide has significant effects on the population growth of the two countries. The population growth of the countries then also impacts the presence of female infanticide. These two phenomenons-population growth and female infanticide are closely intertwined and if not addressed properly, and might even cause the decline of these two most populous countries in the world.
References
China Demographics Profile 2014. (2014, August 23). Retrieved April 2015, from Index Mundi: http://www.indexmundi.com/china/demographics_profile.html
Fox News. (2007, June 13). Infanticide, Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing in Asia. Retrieved March 2015, from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/06/13/infanticide-abortion-responsible-for-60-million-girls-missing-in-asia/
Jones, A. (1999-2013). Case Study: Female Infanticide. Retrieved March -, 2015, from Gendercide Watch: http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html
Mashru, R. (2012, January 18). It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World. Retrieved March 2015, from The Independent: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/01/16/it%E2%80%99s-a-girl-the-three-deadliest-words-in-the-world/
Rosenberg, M. (2015). Sex Ratio Overview. Retrieved March 2015, from About Education: http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/sexratio.htm
Tsai, T. (n.d.). China Has Too Many Bachelors. Retrieved March 2015, from Population Reference Bureau: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/china-census-excess-males.aspx
Yonder, J. D. (1994). Jstor: Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 2, (Jun., 1994), pp. 150-159. Retrieved April 2015, from Jstor: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2786708?sid=21105894495801&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3738992
DomesticViolenceServices.com. (- -, -). Female Infanticide in India and China. Retrieved - March, 2015 from DomesticViolenceServices.com: http://www.domesticviolenceservices.com/female-infanticide.html