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CHINA / National
Sex?imbalance linked to?social ills
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-23 07:10
An increasing crime rate, growing demand for pornography and illegal
marriage are some of the consequences that could result from the widening
gender gap in China, experts have warned.
Currently, there are about 18 million more males of marrying age than
females, the Xinhua News Agency said on Wednesday.
The report said it is estimated that by 2020, males between the ages of
20 and 45 will outnumber their female counterparts by 30 million.
At the moment, 119 boys are born for every 100 girls in China, Jiang
Chunyun, director of the China Family Planning Association, one of the
country's largest non-governmental organizations, was cited as saying by
the report.
The international average ratio is between 103 and 107 boys for every 100
girls.
"The ratio has surpassed the normal level," Jiang said at a conference on
Tuesday in Shenyang.
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Zhang Weiqing, head of the National Population and Family Planning
Commission, said the gender imbalance has been evident since the 1980s,
giving China the world's most serious gender discrepancy.
"The phenomenon will affect social stability and harmony," Zhang said at
the conference.
The commission said it had not released any official statistics on the
current disparity between marrying age adults because of the vagaries in
defining marital age groups.
Zhai Zhenwu, dean of School of Sociology and Population Studies at the
Renmin University of China, told China Daily: "If a gender imbalance
occurs in one or two age groups, it can be adjusted. But when it stays
and gets worse, the issue could become irreversible."
As an example, he said that if a 30-year-old man married a younger woman
because of a shortage of women his age, he would be taking away a younger
man's already-limited choices.
He blamed the imbalanced sex ratio on the traditional preference for male
heirs, the availability of gender testing of fetuses with ultrasound and
backward social security scheme in rural areas.
The sex discrepancy is highly visible in remote and poor areas, he said.
Zhai said the government was addressing the problem with education,
subsidies and a strict regulation of ultrasounds and abortions. He also
called for a more positive attitude toward women.
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