China is going to have HUGE problems in a few years, way to many boys with no chance ever to marry. In 2020 there will be 40 million men who will never marry and now there are many men who can't find a bride.
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/news/boys-without-girls
It is hard to imagine adoption wasn't a more popular option when you look at the beautiful young girls in the image to the left. We want to be clear that we don't believe the Chinese government had any of this in mind when they adopted their one child policy to address their overpopulation problem. But when societies are secret even the best laid plans can spiral out of control. They were a very closed society when this began and the mere fact some of this information is even available speaks loudly of their intention to get it resolved. We salute the Chinese Government of today for the openness that made this article and others like it possible.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences predicts that in the year 2020, China will have as many as 40,000,000 more men than women under the age of 20. That's roughly the equivalent of the entire population of young men in the United States, or twice as many as in the three largest countries in Europe, all facing the prospect of being excluded from a society where having a family is a requirement just to "belong."
In 1978, China instituted its one child policy to address its massive overpopulation problem, and since that time, as many as 400,000,000 abortions have taken place. With Chinese parents' strong traditional preference for boys, it's not surprising that the vast majority of them were destined to be little girls. When nature is allowed to run its course, there are 105 boys born for every 100 girls, but in some parts of China, the ratio can be as high as 130-1 today. The abortion problem is just the beginning. Women are blamed when a "family raid" finds a violation of the one child policy. They are often dragged out of their homes screaming and forced to have an abortion, to set an example. If the midwife assists in giving birth when she finds a violation and the child is a girl, it is killed almost immediately, while a boy is often allowed to live.
In a society where girls don't count, it's no surprise that China has the highest female suicide rate in the World. Forced abortion traumatizes women and by some estimates from the WHO, as many as 500 Chinese women commit suicide every day. We could speak at length about what might happen when little boys become big boys with too much time on their hands, but most of the behavior is obvious and is already taking place. Human Trafficking and Sexual Slavery are on the rise, but that's just the beginning. The evidence is equally clear there is increased violence almost everywhere an imbalance between the sexes, on this scale, has been allowed to occur. This violence appears to be localized at the moment, but will it remain so in the long run?
Will this massive social experiment have consequences for us all? Nothing on this scale has ever happened before, so there is no way to know how growing up in a society without the balance provided by an adequate supply of women will affect the attitudes and beliefs that will drive the behavior of these young boys. But we won't have to wait much longer to find out.
INDIA HAS LOST MORE THAN 50,000,000 BRIDES
Dowry victim Roopa
It is hard to imagine what happened to Dowry victim Roopa, taking place in a country we think of as being so warm and so kind (Image Top Left). It may be even more difficult to understand why any rational parent would participate in a practice that would, so dramatically, reduce the odds of their son spending his life with a beautiful Indian Bride, like the woman in the Image Below, on her wedding day. What do they find so irresistibly attractive about their men that would cause them to knowingly eliminate the lives of millions of their magnificent women, just to improve their odds of having a boy?
In some respects, the Indian culture is even more obsessed with boy babies than the Chinese. They didn't impose a one child law on their people that might trigger behavior of this sort, but with the advent of ultrasound in the 1980's, which made the Sex of the baby easy to determine, female babies began to disappear in record numbers, even after they were born. Today the preferred method is abortion. One survey of Indian abortion clinics found that as many as 7,999 out of 8,000 aborted babies were little girls. India now has the highest suicide rate in the world among younger women. India and China combined exceed 50% of all female suicides in the world.
Like China, India has an overpopulation problem, and many families can't afford too many children. In the poorer parts of the country, where ultra sound may not be available, if the first born is a girl, the odds of the second born surviving to the age of five if it is also a girl are staggeringly low. The Indian tradition of the family of the bride providing a dowry, along with their daughter's hand in marriage, adds to the problem. If the dowry isn't large enough, the new bride's life can be in danger, or, at a minimum, she can be forced to suffer for the rest of her life for the insult caused by her family's lack of generosity. "Dowry deaths" are a serious problem in some parts of India, but the practice has other social consequences as well. Some families consider the birth of a girl as a future economic burden, leading many to conclude it is better to eliminate the problem now rather than later.
A bride on her wedding day
Selective Sex abortion is illegal in India, but they have neglected enforcing the law for far too long. Now their obsession with little boys has created an imbalance between the sexes that has led to other social consequences. In some areas, the boys already outnumber the girls by as much as two to one. And while the Indian people are known as being naturally warm and kind, who knows what changes might take place in their behavior as a result of having too many young men without brides to nurture them and occupy at least some of their time? One of the saddest aspects of the problem in India is that selective abortion takes place more often in the north, where the people are more highly educated and far more prosperous. If we can't blame this problem on the poor, where do we go from here?
A LIGHT AT THE END OF A VERY DARK TUNNEL
The people can draw attention to the problem, but only Governments can make a problem as serious as gendercide go away. India already has a Law on the books, all she has to do is summon the courage to enforce it and we understand that process is well underway. India's large social groups are speaking out more forcefully on the subject as well and many have taken oaths to never engage in this practice again. And more than half of India's popular Soap Operas now address some aspect of this complex issue every week. The future looks very promising, but they have a long way to go to clean up the mess they have created for themselves today. One would think China will have to address the one child policy to put this matter completely behind them, but the new China is far more innovative than the China we knew before. The magnificent effort they put forth for the Olympics speaks volumes about how they feel about the image they present to the rest of the world. They know they can't continue to devastate their female population and have any hope the world will continue to look the other way. It's gone too far already and we believe the best evidence that change is on the way is how open they are about the problem. And it appears both of these proud countries have the right leadership in place to take them the rest of the way.
It's not easy for either of them to release so much information on a subject as sensitive as this and they should be commended for taking this step. Rather than condemn them, at this point in the process we might want focus our energy on encouraging them to continue their efforts to end it. One reason to consider some positive reinforcement for this new openness is they aren't alone. Centered primarily in Asia other countries with serious male population imbalances are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia and Belarus to name a few. According to the UN South Korea had a very serious problem at one time, but is now well on their way to having it under control. So, it can be done! Tom LeDuc
