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Familial and Socioeconomic Reasons Behind Discrimination

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The Demographic Masculinization of China

Part of the book series: INED Population Studies ((INPS,volume 1))

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Abstract

As seen above, the masculinization of the child population is mainly due to discriminatory practices against girls, such as sex-selective abortions (the main cause of the sex imbalance at birth), and the neglect of girls leading to excess female mortality at young ages. While the cultural determinants of discrimination are well known, the socioeconomic factors are less clear. The processes in place, the way each one influences the decision to carry out a discriminatory act, and the mechanisms whereby they interact to reinforce each other or, on the contrary, cancel each other out, are difficult to grasp.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The results presented in this part are drawn from a previous publication (see Attané (2009). The determinants of discrimination against daughters in China: evidence from a provincial-level analysis. Population Studies, 63(1): 87–102).

  2. 2.

    Tibet was excluded from this analysis because of insufficient data.

  3. 3.

    For details about how the indicator for the resistance to birth control policies in China, see Attané (2002b) pp. 105–106.

  4. 4.

    Note that in view of the relatively high number of explanatory variables included this analysis because of the large number of observations, (12 variables and n = 30), the R2 values may be overestimated by the R2 calculated for the sample (0.959 and 0.901 respectively). That is why the adjusted R2 is used here. Regarding this value, this multiple regression model appears to explain a large proportion of the variation in intensity of sex-selective abortions (R2 of 0.864) and, to a lesser extent, a good portion of the variation in excess mortality of girls (adjusted R2 of 0.679).

  5. 5.

    Note that if we remove the “mean duration of male education” from the regression analysis, the “mean duration of female education” then becomes significant and with a positive correlation (with p = 0.0007 and a regression coefficient of +8.342 in the linear correlation with the sex ratio at birth, and with p = 0.041 and a regression coefficient of +0.197 in the linear correlation with excess female infant mortality).

  6. 6.

    Total fertility rates taken from Guo Zhigang (2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut national d’études démographiques, 133 boulevard Davout, 75980, Paris Cedex 20, France

    Isabelle Attané

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  1. Isabelle Attané
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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Total Fertility Rate and Fertility Imposed by the Birth Control Programme in Chinese Provinces in 1990s and 2000s

 

Total fertility rate

Fertility imposed by the birth control programme (i.e. “policy fertility”)

 

1990

2000

Around 1990

Around 2000

Beijing

1.4

0.8

1.33

1.09

Tianjin

1.6

1.1

1.35

1.17

Hebei

2.5

1.8

1.67

1.59

Shanxi

2.4

2.0

1.69

1.49

Inner Mongolia

2.1

1.5

1.80

1.60

Liaoning

1.7

1.4

1.50

1.38

Jilin

1.9

1.4

1.50

1.45

Heilongjiang

1.9

1.3

1.44

1.39

Shanghai

1.4

0.8

1.28

1.06

Jiangsu

2.0

1.5

1.52

1.06

Zhejiang

1.6

2.0

1.54

1.47

Anhui

2.5

2.1

1.61

1.48

Fujian

2.6

1.6

1.61

1.48

Jiangxi

2.6

2.5

1.52

1.46

Shandong

2.1

1.5

1.55

1.45

Henan

2.9

2.0

1.56

1.51

Hubei

2.5

1.5

1.55

1.47

Hunan

2.4

2.0

1.64

1.48

Guangdong

2.5

2.1

1.85

1.41

Guangxi

2.7

2.3

1.57

1.53

Hainan

3.0

2.3

1.97

2.14

Chongqing

nd

2.2

nd

1.19

Sichuan

2.0

2.0

1.57

1.27

Guizhou

3.0

3.0

1.74

1.67

Yunnan

2.7

2.3

2.13

2.01

Tibet

3.8

3.4

nd

nd

Shaanxi

2.7

1.7

1.64

1.51

Gansu

2.3

2.1

1.58

1.56

Qinghai

2.6

2.5

2.08

2.10

Ningxia

2.6

2.3

2.06

2.12

Xinjiang

3.1

2.5

2.40

2.37

  1. Sources: Total fertility rates: for 1990: reconstructions taken from Chen and Coale (1993); for 2000: adjustments taken from Guo (2004). For “policy fertility”: around 1990: Yin (1995); circa 2000: Guo et al. (2003)

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Attané, I. (2013). Familial and Socioeconomic Reasons Behind Discrimination. In: The Demographic Masculinization of China. INED Population Studies, vol 1. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00236-1_11

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