Abstract
It is highly relevant in the case of China to distinguish between urban and rural areas in the analysis of pre- and post-natal discrimination against girls, because of the profound socioeconomic disparities that exist between the two places of residence. Since the almost simultaneous introduction of economic reform and the one-child policy in the late 1970s, urban and rural areas have experienced divergent economic, social and demographic trends, accentuating already considerable differences in way of life and standard of living. Moreover, since the 1970s family planning regulations have differentiated between urban and rural areas and between provinces (see Inset 2.1 above), and couples vary their reproductive strategies according to the number and sex of their offspring. The preference for sons is not as obvious and does not have the same impact on the sex ratio at birth or on female infant mortality across the country.
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Notes
- 1.
1Note, however, that infant mortality rates were lower in 1981 than in 1991. This discrepancy is attributable to under-registration of infant deaths at the 1982 census (see Inset 3.1, p. 41). Although the estimates for infant mortality differ (see Inset 1.1, p. 9), the gaps between boys and girls are on a similar scale.
- 2.
2However, as for overall infant mortality, excess female infant mortality may be strongly underestimated by the 2010 census (see Inset 1.1, p. 9, and Inset 3.1, p. 41).
- 3.
3Administratively, China is divided into 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 special administrative regions: Hong Kong (since 1997) and Macao (since 1999). For the sake of concision, we have grouped them here under the term “provinces”.
- 4.
- 5.
5This may be a consequence of the family strategies implemented by Han Chinese who have settled in Tibet, who are generally allowed to have one more child than if they had continued living in their home province. They might thus take advantage of migration to have a daughter during their time in Tibet. This is only a hypothesis, however, and we do not have the resources to verify or support it at the present time.
- 6.
aChina has 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, including the Han, who make up more than 90 % of China’s population.
- 7.
6Note that the births of some of the baby girls who die from neglect were probably not registered. In statistical terms, those deaths contribute to the gender imbalance in the sex ratio at birth and not to the gender imbalance in infant mortality. But the number of deaths in this category is unknown, and we have no data to support this hypothesis.
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Attané, I. (2013). A Geography of Discrimination. In: The Demographic Masculinization of China. INED Population Studies, vol 1. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00236-1_3
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