WATERING THE NEIGHBOUR'S GARDEN: THE GROWING - CICRED

Interventions to Balance Sex Ratio at Birth
1. Background
in Rural China
ZHENG Zhenzhen
A great number of researches have been published over the last
fifteen years to discuss and analyze the rising sex ratio at birth (SRB)
observed in China since the late 1980s in a context of strong
traditional son preference. Although there is a lack of solid evidence, it
is believed that foetus sex identification services have become easily
accessible and more affordable to individuals over the past decade,
while family planning regulations have been strongly enforced by the
government and the number of children desired by couples has been
reduced under the impact of social and economic development. The
misreporting or underreporting of girls, which was assumed to be the
main reason of imbalanced SRB in the late 1980s (Zeng et al., 1993), is
no longer the dominant reason, and sex-selective abortions are now
considered as the main cause (Banister, 2004). Although the state and
local government have taken specific measures such as education and
prohibition of sex-selective abortion, the SRB is becoming more and
more imbalanced in some areas.
Although son preference is the first reason to be blamed, the issue
is not that simple. Son preference and discrimination against girls has a
long tradition in China, related to traditional family roles of boys and
girls. However, son preference is also a conscious choice of parents
(Table 1), and such a tradition changes very slowly in spite of recent
social and economic development. Women’s rights and interests are
protected by various laws and regulations, but they are often violated
and neglected in practice. Women are often found in a disadvantaged
position in education, employment, marriage, family responsibility, land
distribution and inheritance systems which negatively impact women’s
status and development. The parents are well aware of the inequity
between men and women. Hence they expect that a son would have a