The Preference for Boys v. Girls

In a recent NYT article, the writer examained the current trend of Asian-Americans' preference for boys in the United States, which  been reflected in the actual number of boys born in the United States in relation to the number of girls born. (The researchers also stress that not every Asian-American does this.) According to the article:

"In general, more boys than girls are born in the United States, by a ratio of 1.05 to 1. But among American families of Chinese, Korean and Indian descent, the likelihood of having a boy increased to 1.17 to 1 if the first child was a girl, according to the Columbia economists. If the first two children were girls, the ratio for a third child was 1.51 to 1 — or about 50 percent greater — in favor of boys."

This is done in a number of ways, including in vitro fertilization techniques  that separate X and Y chromosomes with dye and abortion once the gender of the child is known. In the past and even now sometimes, if a couple had girls at first, they would keep trying until they had a boy, sometimes resulting in much larger families than they had originally intended. Other methods included trying to change the diet of the mother to predict the sex of the child, " and sodium for a boy, and calcium and magnesium for a girl."

Some believe that assimilation may take care of this problem, but no one can be sure. Additionally,   several people are surprised to see that the traditional preference from home for boys has carried over into the United States.

In South Korea,  it used to be illegal for the parents to learn the gender of the child before birth. However, in 2008, Korea's high court over-turned this ban because they believe same-sex selection is no longer a problem and that"women would not seek late-term abortions because the baby is a girl."

In China, because of the one-child policy, gender inequality is fast becoming a serious demographic problem. The same case is true in Northern India, according to a this article, which has a ratio of 800 girls to 1,000 boys. When considering the populations of China and India, the problem becomes more global than local in scale.

Preferences for boys over girls result because the man usually inherits the property. In Korea, the eldest male is responsible for taking care of his parents in old age as the females are considered more a part of their husband's family and not their own parents.

While the difference in numbers has not hit the United States as hard as some other countries, in South Korea there is a growing problem in rural areas where farmers are still poor. Due to the gender inequality in South Korea, many men are now getting mail order brides from Southeast Asia, much in the same way early settlers in Alaska did. Because Korea is such a homogenous society, the new brides are often discriminated against, as are their children, who are considered only half Korean. I imagine similar problems exist in China and India, but wonder how poor families there can secure marriages for their sons with so few women compared to men.

For an interesting article about the ethics of same sex selection, check out this examination of both the practices and ethics of gender selection.