Ending its one-child policy could ease instability.
By Michael Fragoso
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1238
The Olympics are around the corner. Just as qualifying athletes are training hard for the event, China seeks to put its best foot forward in response to critics at home and abroad.
Among the criticisms is a quiet but serious challenge: the artificially high number of Chinese men compared with Chinese women. China should act expeditiously to correct the social and legal pressures that have converged to create this problem.
“Son preference” is a deep-seated, widespread problem in many cultures. In many parts of the world, having a son is integral to one’s future financial and social wellbeing. Recent articles have tried to shed light on the problem in India – putting much blame on the ultrasound machines women use to determine the sex of their unborn children in order to decide whether they should abort a female fetus. In China, however, the problem takes on a frightfully larger scope when “son preference” meets the notorious One Child policy. When the government only allows one child, it puts immense pressure on Chinese parents to determine the sex of their child in the womb, and terminate the pregnancy if it is a girl.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1019/p09s02-coop.html