Draconian One-Child Policy Has Left China With Massive Sex Ratio Imbalance

With all the talk surrounding International Women’s Day this week, it is important to remember the many women of China.

A girl in Beijing on Sept. 19, 2012. China's elderly face increasing uncertainty three decades since the one-child policy took hold, with no real social safety net, the law has left four grandparents and two parents with one caretaker for old age, and bereaved families with none. Wang Zhao/AFP/GettyImages

With all the talk surrounding International Women’s Day this week, it is important to remember the many women of China. Innumerable Chinese women have been denied the right to have children, and many others have been denied the most fundamental right of all: the right to take their first breath and live.

China currently has a population made up of an estimated 33 million more men than women. In fact, 2015 Chinese census data estimates that there are close to 116 boys born for every 100 girls.

China currently has a population made up of an estimated 33 million more men than women.