Preferences for Boys and Girls in South Korea, China, India and Nepal

resources for boys and girls in southeasterly Korea, chinaware, India and Nepal The studies of sexual urge bias in some(a)(prenominal) developing countries in Asia need received wide attention oer the past two decades. Demographers have noted worrying trends in conjure ratio at origin in some of the almost thickly settled countries in Asia South Korea, China, India and Nepal atomic number 18 the most markedly countries. One of the measures of contract that has been recognized in this phenomenon among these four countries is the traditionally-and-culturally-rooted of tidings discernment. countersign option has some(prenominal) features that illustrate the inclination of the male stimulate in contrast to the womanish sex resulting numerous differences in alternatives of boys and girls in the societies of these four countries. The features of son preference argon based on socio-cultural, socio-economic and institutional factors in South Korea, China, India and Nepa l, and consequently, have formed an imbalance in the countries sex ratios primarily due to female infants death rate.South Korea was one of the send-off countries to represent the trend of son preference. This is mainly due to Confucian influence that is acutely embedded in the populace, whereby the first son of the most recent male ancestor must put out family rituals. The family dies if in that location were no sons being born(p) (Westley & Choe 2007). Since pre-industrial South Korea, a individuals access to power, social status and economic opportunities depended heavily on their gender, business concern part and their position within that argumentation.Chung & Gupta (2007) described that a number of the credit lines in South Korea had formed into larger super ordinates lineage or in new(prenominal) words can be referred to as clan, where some joint properties atomic number 18 held and utilized to support ancestor worship rituals and to do lineage members in need. Therefore, it was a primary duty to bear sons to mark off the continuity of a familys lineage. On some other note, son preference persisted a role in terms of a socio-economic celestial horizon when the South Korean organisations had subsequently reinforced the Confucian traditions in a series of authoritarian policies in order to maintain social and policy-making stability.For example, the Family Law stipulated that family headship must be held by men in the line of the eldest son, inheritance should be through male line, women should be transferred to their maintains family register upon marriage and pip-squeakren are belonged to the fathers lineage stock- quiet in the case of divorce (Chung & Gupta 2007). construct regorge _Figure 1. 0 Trends in sex ratio at birth and total rankness rate, South Korea, 1980-2003 (Westley & Choe 2007). _ In addition, ultrasound equipment was first mass-produced in the res publica in the mid-1980s.Therefore, the introduction in technolo gies to determine the sex of unborn foetuses feature with the widespread of abortion availability made it possible for couples that wanted a son to selectively abort female fetuses. In 1990, as seen in Figure 1. 0, the sex ratio indicated that nearly two boys were born at this birth order for every girl (Westley & Choe 2007) resulting in an increase of sex ratio at its highest peak in South Korea. Similarly as South Korea, son preference became visible in China since it is another Confucian- entrustd verdant.The people held beliefs that a persons empowerment relies on their lineage and the lineage is solely traced through the male. Therefore, failure to produce a son is considered tantamount to extinction of the family line ( almond et. al 2005). Further more(prenominal), the influence of son preference has been historically and traditionally strong in the country where it can be reflected in this ancient Chinese song quoted When a son is born, permit him sleep on the bed, Cloth e him with fine clothes, And bedevil him jade to playWhen a daughter is born, Let her sleep on the ground, Wrap her in common wrappings, And give broken tiles to play - Book of tidingsgs (1000-700 B. C. ) (Baculinao 2004). drawframe _Figure 2. 0 Sex ratio of population age 0-4 in China, 1953-2005 (Shuzhuo Li 2007)_ In rural areas of China and among the less educated societies, sons are extremely preferred because they are needed to carry out farm work, support pecuniary support to aging parents, continue the family charge and receive family inheritance, and overly responsible for ancestor worships.Apart from that, as seen in Figure 3. 0, there has been a sharp rise in sex ratio of small fryren age 0-4 since 1982. This is due to Chinas government imposing the one-child policy as one of the forces to fast-track economic modernization. The policys main condition is that a family, reliant to their bequeath, is allowed to have one child tho. Subsequently, a son is more favoured among the societies due to putting Confucian values into practice (Muller n. d).The government had by and by on enforced the policy strictly over time where by the regulations included mandatory IUD insertion for all women who had one child and abortion for a woman who had an unauthorized pregnancy. Consequently, out of desperation for a boy, some parents may have killed newborn daughters or undergo an abortion (Graham et. al 1998) and thus, mothers suffer tremendous psychological pressure and thoroughlyness risks while undergoing sex-selected abortions, which attain both their physical and reproductive health (Shuzhuo Li 2007). drawframe Figure 3. 0 Sex ratio of the child and general population, India, 1951-2001 (Guilmoto 2007)_ In India, son preference is influenced by the strong religious Hindoo belief in the country to a certain outcome where by a family needs a son to perform last rites in order for salvation to be achieved. In other words, sons are considered as breadwi nners as they will look after their parents and continue the family name. In addition, Almond et. al (2005) stated that only sons could light a mans funeral pyre and perform the traditional ancestor cult.Moreover, some Indian societies practice a tradition whereby daughters have to be married off with a substation dowry and hence, daughters are more often considered as a financial burden resulting the killing of female newborn babies as the final base to the dowry problem. What is more, it is enlarged and even becoming more accepted, particularly in the poorer areas of India (Almond et. al 2005). Since daughters will be married into another family, therefore only sons can guarantee for the care of the parents in old age, which then resulted a far more widespread practice of favouritism against daughters.Hence, in its most extreme manifestation, the influence of son preference in India can affect on how many girls survive into adulthood and even how girls are born (Westley & Choe 20 07). As summarize in Figure 3. 0, from earlier years mortality conditions of female infants had increased from killing of the female infants and sex-discrimination regime started to experience a deep change during the 1970s, since pre-natal sex- decisiveness tests became widely available and often led to selective abortion to female fetus (CHREHPA 2007). drawframe Figure 4. 0 Trends in sex ratio at birth under 1 year old in Nepal, 1952/54 2001 (CHREHPA 2007). Nepal has been classified as having considerable levels of son preference since the World Fertility Surveys first documented the phenomenon in the 1980s. As seen in Figure 4. 0, there was an inclining trend in sex ratio at birth in 1970s to 1980s. parole preference in Nepal is a little different compared to the other countries concerning the discrimination against daughters are at a distinctive level.Daughters are very ofttimes loved in the family, as they are valued for their responsibility in religious festivals as well as for their emotional and household contribution to the family. Hindus in Nepal assign great value to attaching a virgin daughter. Girls marry early and universally in Nepal because of the religious merit bestowed on those who give them in marriage (Karki 1988). Nevertheless, having sons are very highly prized among the Nepalese societies compared to daughters (Leone et. al 2003).Sons are preferred due for old age security, and lineage where by the Hindu code of conduct in Nepal reinforced the transfer of family name through male offspring. Other than that, sons are more desired for their roles in religious rituals, agricultural labor and companionship. However, many Nepalese couples are instinctive to surpass their sentimentl family sized to satisfy their desire for sons (Hollander 1997). As a consequence, the son preference has affected the contraceptive behavior in Nepal to the extent that Nepalese rarely begin contraception until the desired numbers of sons are born.However , they began to articulate their realization that large families are contributing to shortage of cultivatable land and to the deteriorating fuel wood and water supplies in the hills of Nepal (Karki 1988). Hence, methods of pre-natal sex determination came to view during the 1970s, and according to research from CHREHPA (2007), 10 out of 25 women that had been told the fetus was a girl resorted to sex-selective abortions an increase in Nepals maternal mortality rates and sex-ratio imbalance as seen in Figure 4. . As a whole, it can be seen that the rationale behind son preference in South Korea, China, India and Nepal are based on these six features discriminatory inheritance laws, economic value of sons, continuity of family line, family security and strength, socio-cultural norms and customs and dowry dodging (Gupta et. al 1998). Enhancement of new medical technologies and sex-selective abortions had somehow supported the idea of son preference in these four countries and seem to be a method of having the desired son.Next, it is then perceptibly has created several impacts in socioeconomic and demographic manifestation where by it resulted in higher fertility transition, promotes contrariety in social and human development, associated with excess female deaths and poor health of women, lowers quality of life for women, wastes a valuable human resource and perpetuates bout of poverty and increases income inequality in these four countries (Gupta et. al 1998). Fortunately, the imbalance in sex ratio has spurred some official efforts to shift public sagacity in these four countries.Approaches have been made to reduce the sex-ratio imbalances in these countries by making daughters more wanted. Governments and non-governmental organizations work through advocacy, sensitization and awareness-raising platforms. In South Korea, after a series of extensive campaigns and programs, sex ratios were once greatly imbalanced, are now returning to normal after women ga ined status in society through employment opportunities, increased education, and parents with enough money to be financially secure without dependence on their sons (Guilmoto n. . ). South Korea now is the first Asian country to reverse back the trend of rising ratio of sex at birth. China on the other hand, participated by the countrys ambitious Care For Girls program. The program encompasses many dimensions of the sex-ratio predicament. It offers cash and other incentives to families with daughters, scholarships for girls, better housing or loans for targeted families and others. It also includes several awareness-raising campaigns, as well as repressive measures against illegal abortions and infanticide.In India, a program called Tamil Nadu is created in 2004 that gave monetary rewards to couples that had one or two girls and agreed to be sterilized. The state also created a Cradle babies in which empty cradles were located in government centers across the states for couples to abandon unwanted female child without killing them. Furthermore, in 2007, the New Delhi municipal government sponsored a program that provide every girl born in a government hospital with a gift deposit of 5000 rupees that accumulated interest and could be cashed once the girls reached the age of 18 (Lederer 2008).Nepal has banned sex-selective abortions in 2002 when it liberalized its bear law on abortions. These laws were then strengthened later on in various ways, in order to make them more effective (Guilmoto n. d. ). Although the strategies for reducing son preference and getting back females rights are many, these are all rather considered as a short-run meaning despite the positive and optimistic outcomes. According to an American demographer who has been closely following Chinas population program stated that, The country may be coming o grips with problem as they country is still in dilemma emotional and policy dilemma because the solution to the problem will conflict with other parts of their population strategy to reduce birth rate or some of the measures could perhaps make the problem even worse. The country still has a lot of work to do. Theres no road map yet on how to achieve the terminus of normal sex ratio (Baculinao 2004). Therefore, the future trends of the son preference are impossible to predict in the long run. Patriarchal systems are still underneath the attitudes among the societies in these countries.Regardless of how many levels of development in haunting efforts to address sex-selective abortion and female infanticide, it will fully require fundamental changes in cultural norms that promote son preference. References Almond, D, Edlund, L & Milligan K (2005) Son preference and the persistence of culture. Downloaded from http//www. nber. org/papers/w15391 as at 25 November 2009. Baculinao, E (2004) China grapples with legacy of its missing girls, MSNBC. Downloaded from http//www. msnbc. msn. com/id/5953508 as at 20 November 200 9. Chan, A & Yeoh, B.S. A (2002) Gender, Family and Fertility in Asia An Introdyuction. Downloaded from http//www. unescap. org/esid/psis/population/journal/Articles/2002/V17N2A1. pdf . As at 25 November 2009. CHREHPA (2007) Sex Selection Pervasiveness and Preparedness in Nepal. Dowloaded from http//www. unfpa. org/gender/docs/studies/nepal. pdf as at 20 November 2009. Chung, W & Gupta, M. D. (2007)Why is Son Preference Declining in South Korea? The Role of Development and Public Policy and the Implications for China and India, Policy Researh Working Paper, No. 373, The World Bank. Eberstadt, N (2004) Power and existence in Asia Demographics and the strategic balance. Downloaded from http//www. aei. org/docLib/20040211_PowerandPopulationinAsia. pdf as at 25 November 2009. Edlund, L & Lee, C (2009) Son pereference, sex selection and economic development opening and evidence from South Korea. Downloaded from http//www. econ. columbia. edu/RePEc/pdf/DP0910-04. pdf as at 25 November 2009. Graham, M. J, Larsen, U (1998) Son Preference in Anhui Province, China, International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 2.