Preventing More “Missing Girls”: A Review of Policies to Tackle Son Preference

Abstract

In parts of Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Balkans, son preference is strong enough to trigger significant levels of sex selection, resulting in the excess mortality of girls and skewing child sex ratios in favor of boys. Every year, an estimated 1.8 million girls go “missing” because of the widespread use of sex selective practices in these regions. The pervasive use of such practices is reflective of the striking inequities girls face immediately, and it also has possible negative implications for efforts to improve women's status in the long term. Recognizing this as a public policy concern, governments have employed direct measures such as banning the use of prenatal sex selection technology, and providing financial incentives to families that have girls. This study reviews cross-country experiences to take stock of the direct interventions used and finds no conclusive evidence that they are effective in reducing the higher mortality risk for girls. In fact, bans on the use of sex selection technology may inadvertently worsen the status of the very individuals they intend to protect, and financial incentives to families with girls offer only short-term benefits at most. Instead, what seems to work are policies that indirectly raise the value of daughters. The study also underscores the paucity of causal studies in this literature.

Trends in missing females at birth in India from 1981 to 2016: analyses of 2·1 million birth histories in nationally representative surveys

“…[3][4][5] Evidence-based strategies that include consideration of social determinants, such as equal inheritance laws for women, and emphasis on effective implementation of policies, are urgently needed to reduce sex-selective abortion. 34,35 Without a reduction in sex-selective abortion, the demo graphic distortion might have repercussions for decades. 36,37 Contributors NS and PJ conceived and designed the study.…”

The impact of child migration on the health and well‐being of parents left behind

“…As highlighted by Antman (2016), it is conceivable that the sex ratio of the children in the household may influence elderly health indirectly through the time and financial contributions parents receive from their adult children. Indeed, given the gendered nature of support in China, having no sons may impact on how parents (particularly mothers) are treated in the household and the community at large, which may in turn impact on their health (Kumar & Sinha, 2019).…”

A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition

“…A possible explanation of the gap is the differential fertility patterns between poor and nonpoor households. Son preference has been shown to influence fertility decisions; families frequently continue to have children until they reach their preferred number of boy children (Clark 2000;Kumar and Sinha 2020) across the wealth distribution. 22 Ultrasounds are more common among urban women, women who have some educational attainment, and women in wealthier households (IIPS and ICF International 2017).…”