Introduction

Abstract

This book provides an in-depth analysis of anti-sex selection policies and their effectiveness in curbing skewed sex ratios in three Asian countries. India, Vietnam and South Korea were chosen for a comparative policy analysis. The book contains an introduction followed by eight chapters.

This chapter presents the state-of-the-art research on gender-biased sex selection (GBSS) and policy response in Asia. Due to the scarcity of policy research linked to demographic masculinization (despite several decades of interventions and growing international attention), there is a need to better understand the rationales, instruments and impacts of policies against sex selection. The introduction gives an overview of the research questions, qualitative and quantitative methods, and the framework developed to conceptualize the interaction between the socio-demographic phenomena of sex selection and policy response. This conceptual framework presents the reader to the “3-M-Model,” referring to the motives, methods and magnitudes of why, how and to what extent people engage in a certain socio-demographic behavior such as sex selection. It also presents the reader to the “3-I-Model” of policy intentions, instruments and impacts referring to why, how and to what extent policies affect sex selection. This framework guides the reader through the entire manuscript. In each of the subsequent chapters aspects of this framework will be presented and applied to GBSS. The introduction ends with the outline of the book.