indifference or just silence? - talia carner · 17 male‐female births in china 1981‐2005 the...

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Indifference or just silence?

-- GENDERCIDE IN CHINA

The most basic of all human rights is the right to live.

© Copyright 2007 Talia Carner


• Written and presented by Talia Carner, author, “China Doll”

• Representing International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPWI)

• For the NGO Committee on the Status of Women

• The U.N. Conference on the Status of Women, New York

• Presented at the U.N. on March 5th 2007


2007 U.N. Conference on the Status of Women: The Girl Child Today

• “…will review research and findings of UN agencies, consider recommendations from NGOs, and most especially, listen to girls themselves.”


Girls in China who cannot speak for themselves:

Sources: Brian Woods’ “The Dying Rooms”

Research‐China.org


• Media and political attention is given to the issue of “missing” females in China—

• In connection with the potential social unrest of estimated 40 to 60 million bachelors unable to find a bride.

• New restrictions on foreign adoptions


Population Crisis in China

• 22% of the world population lives on 7% of the arable land.

• Still growing at 1.3 billion to projected 1.7 billion in 2050


One‐Child Policy

• In 1979, the Chinese government initiated a policy that permitted only one child per couple.

• The policy excludes minorities (9% of population)

• In some rural areas, families are allowed to have two children, if the first child is female, or disabled.


Results of One‐Child Policy

• China’s population growth curtailed:•Projected 300 million were NOT born – the same as all of USA population

•Reported improved standard of living for smaller families

•China feeds its people (“One bowl of rice a day.”)


Consequences of One‐Child Policy

1) Second generation of single children ‐‐with no aunts, uncles, siblings or cousins

2) A set of parents and two sets of grandparents cater to one child (“Little Emperor”)

3) Later, all 6 adults rely upon this one child to work the land and support them


One‐Child Policy collides with tradition…

• Generations‐old tradition of highly‐skewed preference for boys

• Girls still called ʺmaggot in the riceʺ • A girl will live and serve her husbandʹs family= waste of limited resources


Total adult women missing:

• 653,000,000 males and • 612,000,000 females = 41,000,000 fewer females

Source: 2000 census People’s Republic of China


• Industrialized and developing nations’(including Africa) boy‐girl birth ratio is 105:100

• Industrialized nations’ overall male‐female ratio (adults and children) is about equal


China: Male & Female Population1981‐2005

China: Comparation Between Male & Female Population (adults and children)1981 - 2005

40,000

45,000

50,000

55,000

60,000

65,000

70,000

Year

Num

ber

of P

opul

atio

n (1

0,00

0)

Males Total Population

Females Total Population

Males Total Population 51,246 52,294 52,580 53,149 53,680 54,382 55,188 56,287 57,097 58,494 59,435 60,126 60,817 61,501 61,629 62,822 63,457 64,069 64,629 65,355 65,672 66,115 66,556 66,976 67,375

Females Total Population 48,376 49,247 49,915 50,455 50,959 51,626 52,812 53,327 54,094 54,873 56,388 57,045 57,700 58,349 59,149 59,567 60,169 60,749 61,280 61,228 61,955 62,338 62,671 63,012 63,381

1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005


Myth: Scarcity of women increases their value

• Fact:Sexual violence, kidnapping and trafficking of girls and women have been increasing in China

• Documented characteristics of “bachelors”: violent, under‐employed, poor, low social status, no family resources


Increased trafficking from Southeast Asia countries

• From Vietnam alone, captured trafficking doubled in 2006


1.7 million girls are “missing” in China each year

• Unicef reports total births in 2005:17, 310,000

• China Ministry of Civil Affairs reports boy/girl birth average ratio across the nation— 120:100

• = 9,520,000 boys vs. 7,789,500 girls

= 1,700,000 fewer female births reported


Male‐ female births in China1981‐2005

The Comparation Between Males and Females Birth Population

500

650

800

950

1,100

1,250

Year

Num

ner of

Pop

ulat

ion

(10,

000)

Males Birth Population

Females Birth Population

Males Bi r th Population 1,101 790 921 946 1,117 1,121 1,158 1,188 1,230 1,159 1,088 1,091 1,080 1,053 1,061 1,046 1,022 980 930 877 848 823 820 833

Females Bi r th Population 1,037 750 874 899 1,060 1,072 1,097 1,125 1,154 1,100 1,032 1,035 1,025 1,010 1,006 992 969 929 871 825 799 776 773 784

1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005


Where are the missing 1.7 million babies each year?

• Due to secrecy and control of information and access to research of a totalitarian government, there is no estimated figures of each of the following categories:


1. Living “illegally” with their or foster families

2. Gender‐selection abortions3. Fatal neglect by family4. Outright killing5. Abandonment6. Institutionalized fatal neglect in

orphanages


1) Living “illegally” with their or foster families

• “The fees of registering a foundling with the Family Planning office is several thousand yuan, dissuading the finders from keeping or registering the child.”

Source: research‐China.org


• Foundlings are kept as future servants or brides

• Unregistered girls do not have access to health and education services—nor later for work or residency permit.

• They are subject to life of illiteracy, poverty, and sexual slavery within a marriage.


2) Gender‐selection abortions

• Sonograms, widely distributed to help local officials ensure that women are NOT pregnant or that their IUDs are intact, are being used for sex‐selection abortions

• Sex‐selection abortions are NOT illegal (law banning it withdrawn)


• Ascertaining the sex of a fetus can only be done at 18 weeks of gestation or later

• Frequent reports in Chinese media of sex‐selection abortions at 7th, 8th or 9th month of gestation


3) Fatal neglect

• Due to limited family resources, girls suffer more from–Deliberate malnutrition –Medical neglect

(Limited healthcare resources for China’s population: Overall the death rate in rural areas up to 9 times that of urban)


4) Killed outright

•With China’s improved health‐care and food supply, reported overall decline in infant mortality rate –

Yet…

• History of infanticide


Source: Gendercide Watch

• “…no overall statistics on the numbers of girls who die annually from infanticide. Calculations are clouded by the ambiguity of the data. Nonetheless, a minimum estimate would place the casualties in the hundreds of thousands.”

• Several Western authorities concur:


Source: 2005 U.S. State Dept report:

• “…the practice of infanticide continues.”


Source: World Health Organization

• Girls are at higher risk than boys of dying before the age of five


Source: Congressional‐Executive Commission on China (2006)

• ʺChinaʹs population planning policy has also resulted in infanticide of female infants, though the rate at which female infants are killed or die of neglect is uncertain.ʺ

• Sex ratio of second birth: 152:100


Source: Unicef

• The death rate in the first year of life puts girls:– at twice as high as that of boys– up to 3 times more in rural than urban provinces


Source: International Family Planning Perspective (June 2004):

Risk of death increases with birth order:

• Rate for second girl apx. three times that for first girls (121 vs. 44 per 1,000 births)

• Second girls more commonly die in the first week of birth than boys (69 vs. 29 per 1,000 live births)


(cont.)

• Perinatal mortality rate in rural China is higher than urban areas, or in other developing countries


Killed by family members…

•Anecdotal evidence reveals that the practice is far from eradicated

•Methods talked about: drowning, suffocation, starvation

– Source: China Population and Information Research Center


Killed by the state…

• Doctors kill third children or infants born without permission from the motherʹs work unit

• Physicians or health‐care workers smother babies to avoid punishment of ʺrefusing to carry out family‐planning policy.ʺ

(The risk of punishment for not killing the child greater than the risk of punishment for killing it.)


5) Abandonment

• Female infants and disabled boys are being abandoned – At birth– Later, upon the birth of the desired boy–When she is 3rd, 4th, or later birth order – Upon remarriage of mother– Sold to traffickers


Source: 2005 U.S. State Dept report:

• In 1994 there were apx 1.7 million abandoned children. “The number may have grown over the subsequent decade.”


Myth #1: Babies are abandoned where they can be found

• Fact: In remote rural area there may be no busy public places

• Punishable *• Anonymity is impossible in a tight society and close dwellings

* Abandonment is punishable, but killing is not


Myth # 2: Domestic adoption by parents seeking to love a child

• Often, domestic adoptions are by couples whose one son has grown and they would like a girl

However….


Fact:

• Female infants sold to those seeking future brides for their sons

• Chinese officials uncovered massive baby‐selling schemes. Newborns found in bags in the back of trucks on their way to be sold

• Poor parents of unwanted newborn girls sell babies for a little as $8

Source: LifeNews.com


Source: 2005 China Quarterly

• 95% of 200,000 ‐ 400,000 abandoned children in rural areas are outside state controlled institutions

• They are not entitled to wu bao [social protection system]: if the parents are known, they continue to be responsible for their children, if the parents are not known, the children are not local orphans and hence not entitled to wu bao.


6) Institutionalized fatal neglect in orphanages

• Abandoned babies living in Chinese orphanages have an extremely high mortality rate (The 1995 Chinese‐reported rate of 80% is estimated to have dropped)

• Orphanages not under Western charities suffer from extreme shortages of food, heat, hygiene, staff, medical care—and even electricity and running water


Source: Unicef

• “Chinese government’s budget for children’s health insufficient”


Source: Asia‐Pacific Research Network

• China’s social protection system can cover only 5% of all of China’s welfare needs

• Orphanages are in remote areas, isolated from community contact—and scrutiny


Source: Deputy Director, Civil Affairs Bureau, Anhui province:

• The central government does not allocate funding for orphan population. It leaves the responsibility to the local government.

• Many local governments cannot provide consistent and reliable financial aid to orphans


Source: China Ministry of Civil Affairs (2005)

• Fewer than half of China’s orphans receive [central] government subsidy.

• Of those received [local budget], amount per year/per child in orphanages:– Large urban – Beijing, Shanghai $500– Henan, Gansu, Ningxia provinces $120– Guangxi, Guizhou & Hunan provinces $80– Seven unidentified provinces $50– Two other provinces <$30– Qinghui $12


How many orphanages are there?

• No recent data available• The government of the People’s Republic of China’s figures in 1995 – 40,000

• Under Western charities – 300‐600


How many orphans per orphanage?

• Average number of abandoned babies brought to orphanages in Guang Xi – 2,000 per year

Source: Xinhua news agency 2004


How many orphans are there in China?

• 2005 study by Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs and School of Social Development in Beijing:

• There are 573,000 orphans in China• Only 69,000 of them live in orphanages


• The above figures only bring up the questions—

•What happened to the rest of the orphanages (apx. 39,000) reported in 1995—and to their populations?

•Where are the rest of the cumulativeabandoned female infants?


What does the world do about gendercide in China?

• It is not covered in Human Rights Watchʹs report released January 2007

• Acknowledged in five words in the 2005 U.S. State Department report

• Gets a passing nod in the World Health Organization report

• Not mentioned in any Amnesty International reports• Not touched in Human Rights in China organization’s

projects


• Acknowledged—but not investigated—in each of 2002‐2006 reports by U.S. Congressional‐Executive Commission on China

• ‐‐and it is not covered in the Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) publications and releases


What does the future hold?

• In 1979, upon the establishment of the one‐child policy, China had almost 1.2 billion people

• Population growth was expected to level off in 2014

• Revised estimates put the population at 1.7 billion in the year 2050


Projected continuing trend of “missing” girls – per year

Missing Females in China from 2005 to 2050

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

Year

Num

ber

of P

opul

atio

n (u

nit:

mill

ion)

MissingFemale

Missing Female 1.73 1.92 1.96 2.00 2.04 2.04 2.08 2.12 2.16 2.20 2.24 2.28 2.32 2.35 2.39 2.44 2.48 2.52 2.56 2.60 2.64 2.68 2.72 2.77 2.81 2.85 2.90 2.94 2.98 3.03 3.07 3.12 3.16 3.21 3.25 3.30 3.34 3.39 3.43 3.48 3.53 3.58 3.62 3.67 3.72 3.77

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2034 2035 2036 2037 2038 2039 2040 2041 2042 2043 2044 2045 2046 2047 2048 2049 2050


Cumulative “missing” girls to 2050

Cumulative Missing Females in China from 2005 to 2050

0.00

20.00

40.00

60.00

80.00

100.00

120.00

140.00

160.00

Year

Num

ber

of P

opul

atio

n (u

nit:

mill

ion)

CumulativeMissing Female

Cumulat ive Missing Female 7.98 9.91 11.87 13.8 15.9 17.9 20.0 22.1 24.3 26.5 28.7 31.0133.3 35.6 38.0 40.5 42.9 45.5 48.0 50.6 53.3 55.9 58.7 61.4 64.2 67.1 70.0 72.9 75.9 78.9 82.0 85.1 88.3 91.5 94.7 98.0 101.4 104. 108. 111.7 115.2 118.8 122. 126.1 129. 133.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011201

2201

3201

4201

5201

6201

7201

8201

9202

0202

1202

2202

3202

4202

5202

6202

7202

8202

9203

0203

1203

2203

3203

4203

5203

6203

7203

8203

9204

0204

1204

2204

3204

4204

5204

6204

7204

8204

9205

0


How many girls will go “missing”until then?

• Total of

133,610,000


This research was accomplished thanks to the groundwork done for the writing of the

novel


Bibliography:

• Additional research sources (inc. for China Population to 2050): National Population & Family Planning Commission of China in 2003

• http://www.china.com.cn/people/txt/2004‐05/21/content_5569757.htm

• http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/

• http://www.gjjsw.gov.cn/rkzh/rk/tjzlzg/t20070302_172620953.html

• http://www.cpirc.org.cn/tjsj/tjsj_cy_detail.asp?id=6740




• http://www.cpirc.org.cn/tjsj/tjsj_cy_detail.asp?id=6628 •

• http://www.cpirc.org.cn/tjsj/tjsj_cd_detail.asp?id=4235

• http://www.gjjsw.gov.cn/rkzh/rk/tjzlzg/t20070111_200559299.html

indifference or just silence? - talia carner · 17 male‐female births in china 1981‐2005 the...

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