PIu or not for the whole history of humanity, at all latitude, the wishes of the parents at the time of conception have been quite agreed. That it is A male, to whom to entrust surname and heritage. From the politics of the only child in China to our saying “wishes and male children”. Today it is no longer so: the females are the most desired. The turnaround It is the theme of an article recently published by The Economist. First, the data.
Prejudices towards the female daughters, abortions and the “gendercidio” of the 80s
The prejudice towards the females has been rooted all over the world since ancient Greece. But female infanticide It was painfully common even in eras not so far from ours. Selective abortion based on sex reached its peak in the 80s and 90s in countries like India, China, Vietnam and Pakistanwith the families who confided in males children to have good economic returns and support the name of the family.
The increasing diffusion of ultrasound in rural and low income communities has worsened things. When it was possible to know the sex of their child already in an early phase of pregnancy, they chose to not having females, giving rise to a real mass abortion of girls all over the world. This is what in 1985 the American philosopher and feminist Mary Anne Warren defined “gendercid“.
In 1990, The Nobel Prize Economist Amartya Sen He analyzed birth rates in Asia, North Africa and China. Based on the normal relationship between males and females at the birth and longevity of both sexes, it found that a huge number of girls was missing. Over 100 million women were therefore essentially “disappeared” before existing.
The economist he estimated that, only since 1980, about the world were born 50 million girls less than what you would expect. This almost certainly means that they have been aborted for no other reason than their sex.
The turnaround in the relationship between the sexes
But today there is a clear turnaround. The annual number of excess male births has fallen from a peak of 1.7 million in 2000 to about 200,000 oggo. Since it reports it within the biologically standard ratio of 105 males per 100 females.
Countries that once had a relationship between the highly unbalanced sexes – such as South Korea, which in 1990 saw almost 116 males every 100 females – now have normal or almost normal relationships.
Overall, it is estimated that The drop in sexual preference at birth in the last 25 years has saved the equivalent of 7 million girls.
Stop to selective abortion based on sex
In countries such as South Korea and China, that is, those with the most unbalanced gender relationships at birth, governments have put a brake on technologies that allow selective abortion based on sex. In India, where the infanticide towards females was particularly dramatic, slogan like “Save your daughter, educate your daughter“ They helped change the opinions.
Between 1983 and 2003, according to what is reported by The Economistthe percentage of South Korean women who believed “necessary” to have a male child fell from 48% to 6%. Almost half of women now say they want female daughters. In Japan, the change went even further: already in 200275% of couples who wanted only one son claimed to hope for a female.
Even in PMA and for adoptions the daughters are preferred
In the United States, where the Selection of sex for couples who undergo in vitro fertilizationthere is more and more evidence that future parents prefer girls, as well as potential adoptive parents. While in the past the couples who had first had a child were more likely to continue to try to have children in an attempt to have a male, now the opposite happens: whoever had a little girl first stops trying to try.
It is not everywhere like this. In north-western India, for example, excessively unbalanced birth rates in favor of males are still the norm. In the regions of sub -Sasaharan Africa, if the relationships between the sexes at birth can be relatively normal, Post-partisan gender discrimination It is still widespread, and takes the form of poor nutrition and worse medical care. And then, clear, women all over the world are still subject to unacceptable levels of violence and discrimination by men.
Wishes and daughters female: because today parents prefer to have a little girl
Among the reasons why more and more parents hope to have a daughter there is the growing possibility that even a female can be destined for a satisfying life, such as that of a male. Discrimination to girls and women at school and at work are decreased, females are overcoming males in many sectors. They continue to earn less than men, but the gender salary gap is being reduced.
Still sexist stereotypes. Better females: they will take care of the elderly parents
But among the reasons for this change of mentality, not all are equally noble. At least in part the growing preference for females is in fact still rooted in sexist stereotypes. Parents from all over the world would prefer to have a daughter also because they believe it would be more inclined to take care of them in old age.
Quieter, scholars, sociable
There are those who prefer females because they consider them Quiet as a child, more dedicated to achieving school success, more mature emotionally, more sociable. And even more autonomous (In the United States, 20% of American men between 25 and 34 years old still live with parents, compared to 15% of women of the same age).
In some cultures an influential factor is the cost of growing a male child, in particular the expectation of providing a house before the wedding.
Even the aspiring adoptive parents would like a child
And the consequences, on the contrary, are already noticing. For example in the orphanages. “About 80% of future parents want a child». He explained it, interviewed by Adoptive FamiliesSusan Myers, a former Lutheran Adoption Network director in the USA. “Agencies and orphanages find themselves with an exaggerated number of male children waiting, without anything wrong, except for not being born females”.
As well, according to the authors of theEconomistthat there are more women than men “would not be as negative as the opposite”, given that “it is unlikely that an excess of single women become physically violent”.
But they warn about the possibility that in a world where women are numerically overcoming men, some could exploit their marginality to avoid committing themselves. For heterosexual women, it could be more difficult to find a partner. Will we deal? Probably. In the meantime, the reversal of course is still good news.
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