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Basille Jimenez
Professor Jackie
English 115 M/W 11-12:15
10 November 2014
The War Against Girls
Sex selective abortion is a practice when an unborn baby is terminated because it
fails to be the correct gender the parents want. The continuation of this practice then leads
to gendercide, the mass killing of a certain gender, and in many cases worldwide, female
fetuses being aborted, which is also called infanticide. Sex selective abortion constitutes the
idea that women are inferior to men. This type of on-going practice, primarily in China and
India, has left many mothers to make drastic decisions in the thought that her choice will
benefit her family. The process of choosing a boy over a girl has been put in the thoughts of
society since the early days.
Every society has some sort of tradition, keeping the past generation from fading in
the modern world. However, some traditions, such as the ludicrous notion that boys are
better than girls because they apparently can support the family better, they continue the
family name, and in some cases they are the rightful heirs to their familys fortunes, must
be challenged. This type of thinking revolves around the past, when women were only
thought of as property and were easily controlled. In todays modern world, women are
allowed to speak out loud, to challenge the norm when it does not cooperate and so much
more. For instance, just recently Chanel, the very popular clothing company, staged a

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womens right demo in their 2014 fashion show and Emma Watson, a celebrity, has given a
speech in the UN fighting for gender equality. Todays society embraces the creativity and
freedom of women; therefore, the killing of baby girls because of their gender is completely
unjustified. It can be seen that there are plenty of women who are just as successful as men.
It is understandable that some societies, like those in more conservative countries, believe
that an outspoken woman and that preferring a girl over a boy are deviants. Nevertheless,
this type of norm must be addressed because not only is killing a precious life for the
gender morally wrong; it also causes dysfunction within the countrys gender ratio.
Gendercide impacts more than a persons morals and ethics, but also a countrys
life-status. Each country keeps track of their population as well as the ratio of how many
women are there to each male. For example, The Economist states that there are only 914
girls to every 1,000 boys in India aged six and under. This shocking ratio between the
genders causes many problems, especially for those girls. Since there are not enough
females for every boy, many girls have been taken. This then leads to human trafficking and
missing women which are especially common in rural areas. Ironically, the trafficking of
girls is quite common due to the lack of girls being born and also to the fact that China has a
defective legal system (Liisanantti and Beese). Gendercide causes many young girls to be
kidnapped just outside their home so that they can be sold and become brides. In America
or other developed countries, human trafficking might seem like a bad dream but in
countries like China, trafficking is real and evident. For example, in Its a Girl a Chinese
woman faced this issue when her only daughter was taken away from her just outside her
door. Thankfully, she was able to retrieve her daughter after weeks of looking. The
daughter was found in another town living with a family who bought the child so that she

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would be the sons wife. This skewed sex ratio and the traditional expectations of having
males promote the kidnapping of girls in order to keep the family line alive. Not only are
girls kidnapped but an estimated 40 million girls are missing in China (Liisanantti and
Beese).
These 40 million missing girls are said to be due to the traditional preference of
having a son. The continuation of this certain traditional value leads to prenatal
discrimination because with modern technology, parents are able to use ultrasounds to
figure out their unborn childs gender then decide if they want to keep the child. Those
missing girls are the ones who were supposed to be born, but in the end werent.
Furthermore, prenatal discrimination and ultrasounds are not the only causes of
gendercide, but the family planning law in China. This law is responsible for regulating the
one child policy and the rules that go along with it. In certain cases, some families are
allowed two children and it has been proven that first pregnancies show no evident signs of
sex selective abortion; however, second or even more pregnancies do show signs of sex
preference (Liisanantti and Beese). When these preferences collide with the family
planning law in China, many families, who are only allowed one child, are faced with either
abandoning their first child if it is a girl or willingly pay the fine of having a second child, if
only that child is a boy. Many families are more willing to pay if that child is a boy than if
their second child is a girl. The ongoing traditional sex preference and the family planning
law restricting births are evidences that gender inequality is alive.
When talking about gender inequality, women are usually targeted by this topic.
Women have seen more restrictions on their rights than men and this is because of ideas

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based on the past. However, even now many countries still cling onto those ways and
devalue women. In countries like China and India a womans status is much lower than a
mans and with this low status; women are faced to deal with domestic abuse and more.
Gendercide not only affects infants but also grown women. Gendercide does not
discriminate in the age of those women, even though infants are primarily affected. For
example, in China many women attempt suicide in rural villages because they want an
escape from their lowly status. Due to the Chinas inefficient health care and the easy access
these women have to acquiring pesticides and other toxins, committing suicide is readily
available and achievable. Furthermore, many women also commit suicide because of the
family planning law. Those who are not rich enough to pay fines are forced to get an
abortion causing depression to some women. Their depression takes over which leads to
them committing suicide. The great amount of suicidal women causes an imbalance in the
sex ratio.
Infanticide, sex selective abortion, and suicide all contribute to gendercide. Each of
those topics leads to the death of women in India and China, especially. Gendercide simply
defined is the mass-killing of a certain sex, in most cases the killing of women. It is awful
and immoral because many precious lives have been cut short. There are plenty of reasons
as to why some parents will willingly abort their female infant for a chance to conceive a
boy in the next pregnancy; such as, traditional preference values and or policies restricting
births. Nevertheless, this choice impacts more than the lives of the families, but also the
lives of the entire country. The missing women, the kidnapped girls, and the skewed sex
ratio are some of the effects that gendercide brings. Yes, a womans right to have an
abortion is justified especially if she cannot financially support the baby or if she has been

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raped, but to simply abort the child because of preference should not be allowed.
Gendercide is a big topic that will take while to be fully resolved; nevertheless, educating
those in countries where some traditions should be modified and changing policies so that
they will actually benefit the people are the first steps to finding a permanent solution to
this global problem.

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Works Cited
"Add Sugar and Spice." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 09 Apr. 2011. Web. 16
Nov.

2014.

"Gendercide." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.
"Gendercide." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 06 Mar. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
It's a Girl. Dir. Evan Grae Davis. Prod. Andrew Brown. Shadowline Films, 2012. Netflix.
Liisanantti, Anu, and Karin Beese. "China's One-Child Policy Has Contributed to the
Abortion of Girls." Gendercide. Ed. Noah Berlatsky. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven
Press, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Gendercide: The Missing Women."
2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.