Female Infanticide in China: Causes, Justice, and Reform

Overview of Female Infanticide in China

Recent data suggests that female infanticide and prenatal sex selection have created a "missing girl gap" of 30 million in China (Phillips, Fawcett & Pankhurst, 2003).

As reported by Jeffrey (2002), female infanticide, sex-selective abortions, the abandonment of girls, and the neglect of baby girls in China remain problems due to the traditional preference for sons and the family planning policy, which limits urban couples to one child and rural couples to two. Estimates from previous years indicate that a very high percentage of pregnancies terminated involve female fetuses, and female babies also suffer from a higher mortality rate than male babies — contrary to the worldwide trend (Jeffrey, 2002). While Chinese government statistics place the national ratio of male to female births at 114 to 100, the World Health Organization estimates the ratio to be 117 to 100, compared to the global norm of 106 male births to 100 female (Jeffrey, 2002).

According to Jeffrey (2002), demographers in China suggest that there may now be as many as 100 million more men than women. If correct, of the total population of China (1.273 billion), there are approximately 686.5 million men and 586.5 million women. However, if post-birth mortality rates are assumed to be equal for both sexes and China had the normal global birth rate of 106 boys for every 100 girls, there would have been 647.6 million women in China — approximately 61 million more than there currently are. Thus, the "missing girl" gap in China may actually be twice as large as the estimated 30 million. Such findings suggest that the Chinese government and the people of China have allowed and participated in the deaths of an estimated 30 to 60 million female infants.

Female infanticide has emerged in China as a consequence of government regulations that allow only one child per couple in cities and two in the countryside if they are born at least three years apart (Saini, 2002). Traditionally, as explained by Saini, greater significance is associated with the birth of males, as sons are expected to support their parents in old age, providing a form of insurance. Daughters do not offer the same utility, and to avoid paying government fines, some parents kill their female offspring. According to Reist (1999), fines for an illegal pregnancy can exceed a family's total annual income. Penalties for an unauthorized birth can amount to 40% of total income and continue for up to 14 years. Furthermore, the children of non-conformists are penalized by being denied household registration, which is necessary to obtain medical care and other essential services.

According to Zeng et al. (1993), female infanticide and abandonment existed in China long before the People's Republic of China established its family planning regulations. During the late 1800s, missionaries reported instances of female infanticide, and the practice continued up until the 1970s (Zeng et al., 1993). However, after the Chinese government established the "one-child" policy in 1979 as a means of controlling population growth, evidence began to emerge in the 1980s documenting the phenomenon of missing girls in China.

In her account of interviews with Chinese women who had either killed or participated in the killing of their female infants, Saini (2002) reveals the pain experienced by many of these women in the acts of violence committed against their own children. Such evidence documents the fact that the "missing girls" of China are not the only ones being harmed by female infanticide. As noted by both Jeffrey (2002) and Saini (2002), both Western and Eastern official accounts of the "missing girls" in China fail to acknowledge the pain experienced by the mothers of these children and the horrendous circumstances surrounding each infant's disappearance from the record.

While it appears that globalization has led to greater attention being directed toward this problem, as reported by Jeffrey (2002), the world and the governments of nations throughout the world — including the United States — continue to obscure the realities of female infanticide in China within discussions of demography, family planning, reproductive rights, census data, and possible explanations for the gaps that exist between male and female births. It is Jeffrey's contention that the world is sitting by and silently witnessing another holocaust unfold.

According to Greenhalgh (2001), as greater attention has been drawn to the disparities in numbers between male and female births within China, the Chinese government has made some movement toward further examination of and response to this problem. Consequently, permission was given to families in rural areas — where anti-female bias is stronger — to have a second child if the first was a girl. As reported by Greenhalgh, in 1995, the government established a small pilot project to test the feasibility of innovations to improve the "quality of care" in the birth control program. Such projects were launched under the stated aims of giving women's health and reproductive choice greater weight while continuing to retain control of population growth. The government's stance remained that China was a nation in demographic crisis, with the one-child policy its primary solution.

According to Gillis (1995), the reduced number of girls relative to boys in China will have society-wide effects in the future. In a country where 96% of the population marries, it is expected that there will be a significant shortfall in the number of women available for marriage. Gillis explained that projections estimated that by the year 2000, on the basis of birth and death rates, timing of first marriages, and population size, marriageable men would outnumber marriageable women 106 to 100 in the age cohort born around the time China's family planning policy began. By 2020, it was estimated that the ratio would reach 110 to 100. Should female infanticide continue, the ratio was expected to increase further, translating into millions of unmarried men.

As further explained by Gillis (1995), the impact on young men remains unclear. However, within China, as in other traditional societies, identity is closely tied to being part of a family. According to Saini (2002), evidence already exists of males banding together in raiding parties to obtain wives, regardless of a female's age. Eventually, Gillis (1995) suggests, this trend may reverse itself as cultural values influence demographic outcomes. The absence of females within the Chinese population may lead over time to an increased preference for female children over males, gradually reversing the imbalance.

Roman Catholicism and Social Justice

The social teachings of Roman Catholicism have a long history and have continued to evolve over time in the development of a social justice agenda.

Whether in relation to economic or social issues, a basic premise underlying Catholic social justice is that all decisions and institutions must be "judged in light of whether they protect or undermine the dignity of the human person" (U.S. Catholic Bishops, 1986, p. 411). This premise is largely rooted in the Catholic adherence to a "consistent life ethic" (Perl & McClintock, 2001). On the basis of this premise, anything that represents a threat to human life or the dignity associated with human life constitutes a moral and political issue of concern. A consistent life ethic emerges from each individual's connection with God and the human dignity accorded to the individual through that connection. Thus, how people think about and react to justice issues — and where the boundaries of the "moral community" are drawn — is determined by examining the degree to which such issues reflect a "consistent life ethic" (Cohen, 1991).

When considering whether female infanticide represents a matter of social injustice, on the basis of the Catholic perspective, acts of murder and the killing of infants clearly fail to conform to a consistent life ethic. The taking of human life, for whatever purpose, represents a clear violation of this ethic. However, as noted by Perl and McClintock (2001), one of the limitations of the Catholic social justice perspective is that it also operates within the context of moral community and moral exclusion. Certain individuals or groups are perceived to fall outside the boundary within which moral values, rules, and considerations of fairness apply. Those who are excluded are perceived as "nonentities," "expendable," or "undeserving," and harming them becomes viewed as "acceptable," "appropriate," and "just" (Opotow, 1990). Therefore, Chinese female infants, in spite of their connection to God through human life, may fail to fall within the protection of the moral community and are, at some level, subject to moral exclusion. While the Catholic perspective can be used to speak out against injustices committed against those outside the moral community, the boundary condition of the scope of justice largely limits the degree to which justice efforts are actively initiated. As is evident from the current literature, voices grounded in the Catholic perspective are largely absent in efforts to call attention to the injustice of female infanticide in China.

References

Aravamudan, G. (1999). Chilling deaths. The Week (24 January, 1999).

Chittister, J. (1986). Divinely ordained? Religious creation myths and the relation of militarism to sexism. In Winds of Change: Women Challenge Church. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 89–107.

Jeffrey, T. (2002). U.S. commission ignores China's holocaust for little girls. Human Events, 58(37), 4–9.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops (1986). Economic justice for all: Catholic social teachings and the U.S. economy. Washington, DC: U.S. National Catholic Conference.

Perl, P., & McClintock, J. (2001). The Catholic "consistent life ethic" and attitudes toward punishment and welfare reform. Sociology of Religion.

Phillips, M., Fawcett, M., & Pankhurst, E. (2003). Women are still the second sex. The Times; London (UK); (12 March 2003), p. 17.

Reist, M. (1999). A crisis of compassion. Human Life Review, 25(4), 83–85.

Saini, S. (2002). Born to die: The tragedy of being born the "wrong" gender. The Humanist, 62(3), 25–27.

Secondi, G. (2002). Biased childhood sex ratios and the economic status of the family in rural China. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 33(2), 215–234.

United Nations (1993). Declaration on the elimination of violence against women. New York: United Nations General Assembly.

Zeng Yi, Tu Ping, Gu Baochang, Xu Yi, Li Bohua, and Li Yongping (1993). Causes and implications of the recent increase in the reported sex ratio at birth in China. Population and Development Review, 19(2), 64–79.