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EMPOWERMENT: Pakistani human rights activists hold candles as they shout slogans during a rally in Lahore on March 7, on the eve of International Women's Day. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
In some communities, when a couple does not produce a male heir, often it is the wife that must bear the consequences. Those consequences can be violence, abandonment, divorce, or even death. Some women must continue bearing children until they give birth to a son.
“Son preference” is a reflection of cultural discrimination against women and must stop, said a joint statement from five U.N. Agencies: the Human Rights Commission (OHCHR), Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, U.N. Women, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Cultural preference for sons is still strong in East, South, and Central Asia with some areas reporting ratios as high as 130 men to 100 women. The normal ratio is 102 to 106 males born for every 100 females.
The reason male children are preferred is generally a result of strong patrilineal societies where property is passed down through the male line. Often men take on a dominant role in these systems and are responsible for economic, cultural, and religious functions.
The U.N. agencies say this discrimination against women is “deeply embedded” in marriage systems and property inheritance laws.
The pressure to produce a son who will carry on the family name and provide economic support leads women to seek early detection of gender and sometimes abort if the child is female.
One survey cited in the statement conducted in rural China found that 36 percent of married women admitted aborting a child based on sex.
Trying to prevent ultrasound exams for sex would be nearly impossible to regulate, say experts, since the same exam is used to monitor the health of the fetus and determine age.
Moreover, restricting access to services without addressing the social norms that brought the situation about would only force women to seek clandestine services and abortions, says the U.N. statement. Such a policy would only put women in greater danger.
Most agree that gender discrimination, not technology, is to blame for biased sex selection of the unborn. Fighting such discrimination requires empowering girls and women and adjusting social norms about gender—but neither can be accomplished overnight.
“Renewed and concerted efforts are needed by governments and civil society to address the deeply rooted gender discrimination which lies at the heart of sex selection,” said experts cited by the U.N.
South Korea is an example of a country that has successfully reduced “son preference” and in 2007 saw its birth ratio return to 107 males for 100 females. Previously, in the 1980s and 1990s, the ratio was closer to 116.
Several factors are believed responsible for this shift. First, two decades of bounding economic growth changed the structure of Korean society away from a farm-based economy and increasingly gave women a role in the workforce. Economic growth empowered women economically, but also their parents now had savings for retirement and weren’t as dependent on financial support from sons. Jobs gave women greater autonomy and increased their social status and value.
South Korea also changed several laws. One granted rights and responsibilities to women within their birth family, even after they marry.
A constitutional court in Korea recently decided that parents have the right to know the gender of the fetus, which signals the government is confident parents desire girls equally as much as boys.
