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Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam

Part of the book series: Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development ((DTSD,volume 11))

Abstract

Chapters 5, 6, 7 represent the country case studies, which are the centerpiece of this book. They always follow the same logic. First, we present the unique country context, with son preference, lowering fertility and access to reproductive technologies giving rise to sex imbalances at birth. The analysis then turns to national laws and policies related to GBSS before assessing the influence of public policy on sex selection and sex ratios at birth at a national and regional level. Each country chapter closes with a discussion of the major findings and policy conclusions with reference to the conceptual framework of this investigation.

This chapter covers the Korean case study. Son preference – rooted in Confucian heritage – in combination with declining fertility gave rise to sex imbalances in the early 1980s. After a decade of rapid SRB increase, the number of male to female births started to decline in 1994 – seemingly in concert with anti-sex selection policies. Yet, the qualitative findings suggest that these policies were poorly enforced and only stepped up after SRB had begun to normalize. In fact, access to sex-selective services and abortions were widely available despite their illegality. Moreover, the Korean government introduced awareness campaigns, abolished the male favoring family head system, and issued wider reforms linked to fertility, pensions and old age protection. Thus, South Korea can be easily regarded as a poster child for addressing sex selection from multiple angles. However, the analysis shows that anti-sex selection policies played a minor role in the SRB transition. Instead, other drivers can explain the SRB decline namely, a shift in family norms, socio-economic development, and enhanced women’s status. While sex selection itself is seen as a problem of the past, the government is still addressing its long-term consequences (or magnitudes). As such, authorities have become more concerned with “matchmaking” in order to boost fertility, counter population decline, and deal with generations of missing women.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although Korea adopted Confucianism from China, it also maintained native folk religions, communication with spirits of nature and deceased. Christianity was introduced only in the twentieth century.

  2. 2.

    Other evils were disobedience to the in-laws, adultery, jealousy, hereditary disease, garrulousness and larceny (Kim, 1994, 148).

  3. 3.

    In this sense Korean cultural heritage was strongly influenced by Eastern imperialist powers and differs from both India and Vietnam who were colonized by Western imperialist powers.

  4. 4.

    The organization has changed its name several times over the decades, but it continues to exist to date.

  5. 5.

    Only Ebenstein (2014) tested in a working paper the influence of pension schemes on SRB. He used Korea’s rapid expansion in providing national pension schemes during the 1990s for a Difference in Difference Analysis between self-employed versus salaried workers (who had been benefitting the pension program prior to the expansion). The author concludes that, “the large scale social insurance program in South Korea led to a normalization of the sex ratio at birth. As predicted, the groups targeted in the pension expansion experienced a large decline in the sex ratio at birth” (Ebenstein, 2014, p. 7).

  6. 6.

    Penalties for doctors engaging in sex determination were increased to up to 3 years of prison and fines of up to US$ 12,000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Population and Development, Paris, France

    Laura Rahm

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  1. Laura Rahm
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Rahm, L. (2020). South Korea. In: Gender-Biased Sex Selection in South Korea, India and Vietnam. Demographic Transformation and Socio-Economic Development, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20234-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20234-7_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20233-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20234-7

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