Female infanticide
Female infanticide refers to the intentional killing of female infants and has been a troubling practice across various cultures and historical periods. It is most prevalent in countries like India and China, where societal biases against females often manifest in this extreme form. Various factors contribute to female infanticide, including economic considerations, such as the inability of women to earn income compared to men, the financial burdens of dowries, and cultural expectations that women will leave their families upon marriage. Additionally, government policies and social structures, including caste systems, can exacerbate these biases.
The rise of sex-selective abortions has somewhat diminished the incidence of female infanticide, although estimates suggest that millions of female children either face termination before birth or are killed shortly after. The sex ratio at birth (SRB) is often a critical indicator of these practices; in regions with female infanticide, the typical birth ratio of boys to girls is disrupted. Efforts to combat female infanticide include educational initiatives and financial incentives to encourage the survival and upbringing of female children. Despite some progress, the challenge persists, highlighting deep-seated cultural attitudes towards gender that continue to affect the lives of girls in these societies.
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Female infanticide
Female infanticide is the intentional killing of female babies. It has occurred in a wide variety of times and places throughout history. In the mid-2020s, it is most often practiced in India and China. Female infanticide usually occurs in societies that show other signs of an anti-female bias. It may occur because women cannot earn as much money as men and may, in fact, be seen as dependents rather than earners. It can also occur because the cost of a dowry is more than the family can afford or because, in many cultures, women leave home to live with their husbands and are not available to care for aging parents. Government policies and caste systems can also lead parents to consider female infanticide. As abortion becomes more common, sex-selective abortion is taking the place of female infanticide. Since many rural pregnancies go uncounted, it is impossible to tell exactly how many baby girls are killed each year.
Background
Female infanticide can also be found in a variety of mammal populations. It is most common in groups where females breed at the same time and produce many offspring. The females targeted are seen as competitors when it comes to both breeding and resources and so are sometimes killed.
In humans, there is evidence that infanticide, in general, has been practiced across time and civilizations. Sometimes, it is directly aimed at females. Mohammed, for instance, prohibited female infanticide in the Koran. Ancient texts also indicate that the practice has been common in India and China for centuries. Potentially, tens of millions of children have lost their lives due to this practice.
With the advent of abortion and the ability to find out the sex of a child before they are born, female infanticide rates have dropped. However, many families are simply aborting female children in utero. Over one hundred million girls have simply never been born because of sex-selective abortions, and the number is likely much higher than that.
It is difficult for researchers to determine exactly how many female babies are killed or aborted. Estimates are based on the fact that there tends to be a standard ratio when it comes to the number of baby boys versus the number of baby girls at birth (102–106 boys for every 100 girls). This is called the sex ratio at birth, or SRB. When this ratio is off, researchers look for the cause. There are several possible causes of unusual SRBs, like the socioeconomic status of a region or environmental factors. When there are significantly fewer females than males in societies known to practice female infanticide, demographers can use the number of men and the ratio to estimate how many baby girls have likely been killed.
A variety of efforts have been made around the world to stop female infanticide. These range from offering financial incentives to people who have and raise female children to increasing education around the value of females. They show a moderate amount of success.
Overview
In the 2020s, India and China remain the centers of female infanticide and sex-selective abortions in the modern world. However, as people from these countries immigrate around the world, they are changing the ratio of boys to girls born in other countries, too.
In India, in 2021, females made up the majority of the population for the first time, with 1020 women alive for every 1000 men. This is standard in demographics. However, the SRB is still incredibly low, which means female children are still being aborted or killed as infants. India is known for having a male-dominated culture, and many parents still indicate that they prefer to have sons instead of daughters. Even when they are allowed to live, girls in India may not get enough to eat and may be given in marriage at an early age.
The problem is greater in Hindu populations than in Muslim ones. The Pew Research Center spoke with The Wire, indicating that at least 9 million girls were missing from the twenty years between 2000 and 2019. Of these, at least 7.8 million come from a Hindu background.
In China, the government’s “One Child Policy,” which began in 1979, only permitted families to have a single child unless they wanted to face stiff penalties. Since boys were preferred, parents committed female infanticide more frequently because they wanted their only child to be male. This has led to a skewed SRB and a variety of cultural problems, such as men who cannot find female partners. China has since repealed the policy, and ratios seem to be trending closer to normal.
Female infanticide and sex-selective abortion are also present in other cultures with close relationships to India and China. Killing female children in favor of males has been documented in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam as well.
In the United States, SRBs among immigrant populations seem to show that some families are choosing to abort baby girls after they immigrate, as well as in their homeland. It is important to note that these same unusual SRBs are not shown in populations who were born in the US to immigrant parents. While there are many potential causes for this, it is likely that assimilating into American culture helps mitigate the trend of aborting female babies.
Throughout the world, if female babies are not aborted, women are usually the ones who kill them, sometimes without the knowledge of the child’s father or anyone else. In 1624, for instance, the government enacted a law to stop women from passing infanticides off as stillbirths. If they did not give birth with a witness or could not produce a live child, they could be prosecuted. These women may feel cultural pressure. However, female infanticide may also have origins in poverty. Families who are struggling to find enough food for their existing children can feel like providing for one more, plus potentially paying a dowry for her later—especially when she will not be able to provide for them later—is not feasible.
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