All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not originally generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.
Baby boys are increasingly viewed as a burden and girls as a boon, an analysis of global births suggests.
The data indicates that a longstanding pattern of parents around the world hoping for sons rather than daughters has shifted.
The move is particularly pronounced in China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, where sex-selective abortions had led to millions of “missing” girls.
But there are also signs that the historic preference for a son to carry on the family name has faded in the West.
Naturally, about 105 boys are born for every 100 girls, an evolutionary ratio that offsets higher rates of male mortality.
From the 1980s, however, the advent of affordable ultrasounds allowed parents to identify the sex of a foetus. Abortions of females fuelled a dramatic imbalance, with an estimated 21.6 million fewer girls born since 1990 than natural rates would predict.
Yet recent data suggests that this trend is rapidly reversing. Analysis by The Times estimates that the number of “missing” girls across the world in 2025 will be about 107,000. In 2000 the figure was more than seven times higher, at 806,000.
Experts have suggested several reasons. Daughters may now be perceived as more nurturing or easier to raise. In China, where male surpluses have created legions of unmarried men, parents may now fear loneliness for their sons.
Source: Centuries-old preference for baby boys may be coming to an end