March 16, 2005

ISN'T IT WOMEN'S RIGHT NOT TO BE CHOSEN?:

India doles out cash to fix sex ratio (Harbaksh Singh Nanda, 3/10/05, UPI)

While girls outnumber boys in many countries, India is home to 933 women per 1,000 men, according to the 2001 census, and the situation since has not improved in this male child-hungry society.

India's patriarchal society is finding itself short of 37 million girls and is blaming the overwhelming desire for boy children that has lead to selective abortions.

According to the 2001 census, the sex ratio in the age group of 0-6 had declined to 927 girls per 1,000 male children compared with 1991, when it was 945 girls to 1,000 boys.

India's northern state of Punjab has a sex ratio of 798 females per 1,000 males, and Haryana state has a ratio of 820.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 16, 2005 12:04 PM
Comments

In addition to the immediate tragedy, there will be many more when millions of young men have no women to choose.

Posted by: curt at March 16, 2005 2:08 PM

Same problem in China. So, lets see, both countries will have a huge cadre of young, unmarriable men; this group is most prone to violent, criminal behavior; both countries have a long history of political instability and political violence; and both countries are being severely stressed politically, culturally,and economically. Sell short.

Posted by: Luciferous at March 16, 2005 4:04 PM

Looks like a good recipe for a Sino-Indian ground war. Problem solved.........

Posted by: ed at March 16, 2005 4:08 PM

or, over time, female children become more desirable and the ratio starts to tilt back to the middle. am i the only one who believes in market forces here ? not everything leads to the appocalypse...

Posted by: cjm at March 16, 2005 5:28 PM

cjm,

It's market forces that are producing the disparity. Indian parents obviously want boys over girls and the market shows their preference.

Posted by: Slider at March 16, 2005 8:00 PM

cjm:

It always has.

Posted by: oj at March 16, 2005 8:01 PM

Or the cultural inheritance patterns will change.

Or evolution will put their societies on the ash heap of history.

Their choice.

Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 16, 2005 8:37 PM

Jeff:

I love it when you conflate evolution and choice.

Posted by: oj at March 16, 2005 8:42 PM
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