Sex Ratios at Birth as a Measure of Gender Inequality:
The sex ratio at birth should be, for biological reasons,
104 or 105 -- that is 105 males being born for every 100 females.
If the sex ratio at birth is higher than 105, then it is likely that sex
selective abortion of female fetuses is occurring. The sex ratio
at birth for China in 1997 was 111 -- indicating the widespread practice
of using sonograms to identify the sex of fetuses and the subsequent aborting
of female fetuses.
Look at this table of sex ratios at birth for China, Korea,
and Taiwan over time. This is an interesting table because the data
has been collected by birth order -- so you can examine the sex ratio at
birth for first-born children, second-born children, third-born children,
fourth-born children, and fifth-born or later children. Can you see
patterns in this data?
Two patterns are evident:
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Over time has the sex ratio become more unbalanced.
Before high resolution sonograms became available, determining the sex
of a fetus required amniocentesis, a much more invasive and expensive procedure
whose access was controlled by physicians. Today in many East Asian
countries, pharmacists and others own high resolution sonogram equipment
and the cost of determining the sex of a fetus has fallen dramatically.
More couples are controlling the sex of their offspring than ever before.
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If you examine the sex ratio by birth order you will see
a common pattern. As the birth order goes up, the sex ratio goes
up. Why might this be? Imagine being a couple living in a society
in which having a son is viewed as a necessity -- whether for religious
or family reasons. If your first child is a daughter, will you be
more desirous of insuring that your second child is a son? What if
your first two children are daughters?
If you would like to read more on this topic see:
"Consequences of a son preference
in a low-fertility society: imbalance of the sex ratio at birth in Korea."
Chai Bin Park; Nam-Hoon Cho. Population and Development Review,
March 1995 v21 n1 p59(26).