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Topic Area A Reducing Female Infanticide and Feticide in India and

China

Statement of the Problem

Female infanticide and feticide are both pervasive issues in several countries across the

globe. Female infanticide is defined by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as the

“abortion of a fetus because it is female or the killing of an infant by a relative because it is

female,” while feticide is a form of sex-selective abortion that also contributes to the deaths of

many female children each year.1 These two actions are often grouped together, because they

share the common root of son preference. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated, “son

preference affects all aspects of a woman’s life…because she is discriminated against the

moment she is born and some time even before if sex selection procedures are available.”2

There are a myriad of causes that may lead to lower societal regard for female life than

male life. India, a society formerly based on a caste system and still characterized by a

considerable class disparity, and China, with the government-instituted One-Child Policy, are

two heavily populated countries where female infanticide and feticide occur on a tremendous

scale. Whilst there are incidents of female infanticide and feticide in countries elsewhere around

the globe, China and India will be the focus of discussion as they have presented the most drastic

gender imbalances and highest prevalence of female infanticide acts.

Usually, the patriarchal mindset that fuels female infanticide and feticide manifests itself

through differences in economic treatment granted to men and women. In some countries, such                                                                                                                        1 “UNICEF Examines Female Infanticide, Gender Discrimination,” http://www.unwire.org/unwire/20010925/18490_story.asp. 2 Agnani, Missing Girls, 25.

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as India or China, the lack of a social security system enforces an increasing reliance on men due

to the belief that women are absorbed into their husband’s family after marriage and cannot offer

their parents care in their old age as a son would. Also, a tenet of Hinduism claims that only the

son can successfully bury the parents, lighting the pyre so that their souls may ascend to heaven.

The daughter, however, is attributed no such honor.3

The problem is exacerbated by other traditional practices as well. In India, for example,

the still existing dowry system that contributes to son preference. There is a societal pressure to

conform to this cultural norm, which dictates that the bride’s family must supply the groom’s

family with an array of expensive celebratory gifts over the course of the annual Indian festivals.

At an average combined cost of 35,000 USD for wedding and dowry expenses, this practice can

be extremely financially overwhelming.4 Oftentimes, struggling families wind up in debt after

being forced to borrow money to support these matrimonial traditions.5 Especially in

impoverished areas, female children may be regarded as financial burdens because of their future

dowries; thus, families are discouraged from wanting too many daughters, if any. 6

Though the dowry system may seem rather outdated in a world where women have

broken numerous barriers in fields like business, science, and education, it must be kept in mind

that the dowry system it is enmeshed in the cultural traditions of countries such as India.

However, the contribution of the dowry custom to female infanticide cannot be ignored: “[T]o

plebian families girls were a great expense and therefore their birth regarded as a misfortune, and

to aristocratic families girls were no less a misfortune for there was no one to marry them and an

                                                                                                                       3 Girish, “For India’s Daughters, a Dark Birth Day,” http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0209/p11s01-wosc.html. 4 Gendercide Watch, “Case Study: Female Infanticide,” http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html. 5 Ibid. 6 Karabin, “Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing,” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281722,00.html.

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unmarried girl of the age of puberty is a disgrace to her family.”7 Furthermore, the practice of the

dowry has caused violence in some cases, as women whose dowries are deemed unsatisfactory

may be abused by their husbands, the worst case of all being bride-burnings. Bride burnings used

to be large problem throughout South Asia, but it still continues to this day.8 In such cases there

have been incidents of women, who are viewed as unworthy by their husbands, being burned,

with these crimes made out to look like suicides. It is cultural practices such as the dowry that

lead to such desperation and prejudices against women, which in turn contribute to female

infanticide and feticide.

Female feticide is also an increasingly pressing issue related to that of infanticide. The

problem has been exacerbated by the spread of prenatal sex determination technology.

Technology that would originally have been used for purposes such as aborting handicapped

fetuses or fetuses with birth defects is now being used for sex determination, sometimes with the

end goal being to dispose of the baby if it is established to be female. For those parents who are

unable to procure an abortion, other brutal, unhealthy, and illegal methods are used to achieve

their goal. Some horrific stories have arisen on female infanticide in parts of India and China.

John-Thor Dahlburg writes in an article titled “Where killing baby girls is ‘no big sin’”:

Lakshmi already had one daughter, so when she gave birth to a second girl, she killed her. For the three days of her second child's short life, Lakshmi admits, she refused to nurse her. To silence the infant's famished cries, the impoverished village woman squeezed the milky sap from an oleander shrub, mixed it with castor oil, and forced the poisonous potion down the newborn's throat. The baby bled from the nose, then died soon afterward. Female neighbors buried her in a small hole near Lakshmi's square thatched hut of sun-baked mud. They sympathized with Lakshmi, and in the same circumstances, some would probably have done what she did. For despite the risk of execution by hanging and about 16 months of a much-ballyhooed government scheme to

                                                                                                                       7 Vishwanath, Female Infanticide and Social Structure, 42. 8 Aman Sharma, “Etah Dowry ‘Victim’ comes Alive,” http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=61245.

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assist families with daughters, in some hamlets of ... Tamil Nadu, murdering girls is still sometimes believed to be a wiser course than raising them.9

As a result, sex ratios are becoming dramatically disparate in such regions. In some parts

of India, the sex ratio of girls to boys has dropped to less than 800:1,000”10 China is on equal

footing in that regards, with similarly jarring numbers. Government reports have shown that sex

ratios have reached 120 males per 100 females and that provinces with “the most striking dearth

of children of girls are along the richer southern and eastern coasts” and that proportions of girls

missing in most provinces of central and north central China are almost as severe.11

The reverberations of this issue extend beyond the immense risk to female life in these

regions. For one thing, societal balance has been shaken, and family life has been placed in a

precarious position. According to Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute

in Washington D.C, “Twenty-five million men in China currently can’t find brides because there

is a shortage of women.”12 Consequently, men find themselves having to travel overseas to find

brides. Another most unfortunate consequence is that gender imbalances perpetuate the growing

commercial sex industry, the largest problem anticipated to occur in China where “bias in favor

of male offspring has left China with 32 million more boys under the age of 20 than girls,

creating ‘an imminent generation of excess men…’.”13 This means that levels of human

trafficking are also increasing drastically. Mosher claims, “800,000 people being trafficked

                                                                                                                       9 “Case Study: Female Infanticide,” http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html. 10 Grewal, “Female Foeticide in India,” http://www.iheu.org/female-foeticide-in-india. 11 Croll, Feminism and Socialism in China, 23. 12 Karabin, “Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing,” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281722,00.html. 13 LaFroniere, “Chinese Bias for Baby Boys Creates gap of 32 Million,” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/world/asia/11china.html.

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across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls, most of whom are

exploited.”14

In an effort to alleviate the staggering statistics, campaigns and initiatives are being

launched against gender imbalances. To combat the problem, some governments have set up

orphanages to nurse unwanted baby girls, thereby decreasing the chances they will be disposed

of some other way. Furthermore, the goal is often to educate the public on the value of women

and elevate their role in society. However, education needs not stop simply at the level of

women. On the contrary, it is mostly men’s conception of women as second-class citizens which

has led to the unfortunate chasm between the two genders. If women are regarded as men’s

equals in society, then it is likely that they will eventually be able to acquire the rights to work

and earn incomes comparable to those of men. As a result, fear of children being incapable of

caring for their parents at a later stage in life would dissolve, potentially eliminating the male-

preference dynamic.

Governments taking a more active stance on the issue should commit to strengthening or

introducing legislation that prohibits female infanticide and sex-selective abortion. Where

customs and marriage laws have made daughters out to be a financial burden, steps may be taken

to ensure that this does not become a crippling phenomenon. The dowry policy arguably can be

viewed as one of the roots of the problem, since parents see their children in a financially

influenced light and gauge their value by that standard. Although the dowry was legally

prohibited in India in 1961, it continues to be highly utilized. However, such issues are often

contentious because efforts to ameliorate situations that arise from cultural tenets often encroach

upon beliefs long-ingrained in the mentality of those involved. Linked with this idea is that of                                                                                                                        14 Karabin, “Abortion Responsible for 60 Million Girls Missing,” http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,281722,00.html.

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lineage and the fact that a daughter cannot carry down the family name in most societies whereas

a son can. In countries such as China, where families are only allowed to have one child, this can

be seen as quite problematic for members of the family who want to perpetuate the family name.

Another source of contention is whether or not parents have a right to know the sex of the

child before it is born. The high rates of female abortion in countries where male preference

phenomenon is prevalent are often due to prior knowledge of the baby’s sex before birth.

Coupled with the increased access to sex-detection methods and safe abortion, the problem has

been exacerbated by abortion agencies advertising with catch lines like “spend 600 rupees now

and save 50,000 rupees later.”15 This type of message promotes the idea that female children are

burdensome for parents, encouraging them to get rid of female children at an early stage.

SOCHUM is committed to advancing the situation of women in societies and ensuring the

protection of children all over the world. It often works alongside other UN bodies to provide

careful solutions to social and humanitarian issues such as the one being discussed at present.

SOCHUM ’s jurisdiction does not extend beyond putting forth suggestions and advice to the

General Assembly; it cannot impose itself on government bodies to implement changes it has

designed. While the decisions made within the committee have no legally binding force, the role

of the forum is to comment on major international issues and pass suggestions on to the Human

Rights Committee (UNHRC). SOCHUM can provide the framework for social and health welfare

schemes that it may deem necessary for the improvement of a situation and many resolutions to

that effect have heretofore been passed. Furthermore, it has certainly been put forth by SOCHUM

in the past to carry out surveys and studies of affected regions in order to formulate

comprehensive reports for analysis of the problem.

                                                                                                                       15 Muthulakshmi, Female Infanticide: Causes and Solutions, 35.

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History of the Problem

This multi-faceted problem has unfortunately existed for countless years and on

numerous continents, although not with the frequency and at the critical level that it has reached

today. There is considerable historical evidence tracing the practice of infanticide all the way

back to the Golden Age of Greece. For example, the murder of female infants was so common

that among 6,000 families living in Delphi no more than 1 percent had two daughters.16 The two

most common rationales for this social phenomenon have been population control and poverty.

By restricting the number of children allowed to grow to adulthood, societies could control food

intake, thus preserving the supply of food to keep starvation at bay. Additionally, families also

preferred to be feeding male children because they were more useful for manual labor and

earning than females. This line of reasoning was and still is especially prevalent in rural areas,

where male children are more reliable as help in the fields. Clearly, these factors have led to an

undeniable bias against females in some societies.

Nowadays, the phenomenon seems most prominent and even socially acceptable in two

particular areas of the world: India, where “the centuries-old practice of female infanticide can

still be considered a wise course of action,” and China, where 30.5 million females are reported

"missing.”17,18 In China, Elizabeth Croll suggests that female infanticide originated in 2000 BCE

during a period of environmental stress. Han Fei, a well known legalist thinker of the Zhou

dynasty (1027-221 BCE) wrote, “when parents bear a child they congratulate each other when it

                                                                                                                       16 Rummel, Death by Government, 65-66. 17 ESCAP, “Social Policy and Population Section,” http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/popheadline/296/art8.asp. 18 Larry S. Milner, A Brief History of Infanticide, 17.

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is a boy and kill it if it is a girl because they are considering their later convenience and

calculating long-term interests.”19 There are numerous references to infanticide during the Song

dynasty, a period in which there were numerous changes in attitudes to women. Too many

daughters meant having to pay large dowries; thus, smaller families with fewer daughters were

desired. However, a sixteenth century observer noted that as a result of female infanticide, “there

were not enough females for the males to marry at their proper age.”20 The growing rarity of

females eventually led to the treatment of females as assets for exploitation, no matter their status

as maidens, wives, or widows.

In addition, the prevalence of female infanticide and feticide in India and China has been

influenced by historical traditions. In traditional Hindu and Confucian societies, the position of

the woman is linked to her dependence on a male.21 In childhood, she depends on her father or

brother, after marriage on her husband, and after being widowed on her sons. Essentially, her

independent status is not recognized.22 If any rights are granted in the family it is usually in the

context of motherhood. Interestingly enough, the situation has not always been so. Reverence of

the Mother Goddess once played a large role in ancient societies in South and East Asia, and

during those periods son preference probably was not so preponderant. Such a mentality

coincided with the start of agriculture and the beginning of a patriarchal form of society.

In 1949, the Chinese government attempted to abolish the practices of concubinage,

dowries, female infanticide, the sale of children, and the general subordination of women

through patriarchal structures.23 Figures from a 1982 survey show normal rates for sex ratios for

                                                                                                                       19 Croll, Feminism and Socialism in China, 27. 20 Killing Infants: Studies in the Worldwide practice of Infanticide, 342. 21 Muthulakshmi, Female Infanticide: Causes and Solutions, 42. 22 Agnani, Missing Girls, 36. 23 Ibid, 348.

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a brief period in the 1960s. Then, technology for sex-selective abortion became available in the

mid-1980s, causing the ratios to change. Therefore, despite beliefs that the communist revolution

altered attitudes toward gender and put an end to female infanticide and feticide, the practices

continued.24 The China Population and Information Research Center acknowledges that

drowning of female infants is still a problem although it is forbidden by law. Abandonment is

another means through which families to rid oneself of an unwanted female child, and although

many abandoned females are placed in orphanages, few survive due to the poor care in

orphanages.

Furthermore, in China, the One-Child Policy certainly reinforced a tradition of son

preference. Caring for the financial needs of the parents is, after all, one of the primary roles of

the sons. The need to produce sons is particularly evident in rural areas where males are

considered, “more valuable as laborers.”25 In 1970, the system of farming changed focus from

the collective to the family, and families with sons were seen as advantageous because males are

“given tasks of heavy agricultural work and handled disputes over land boundaries or allocation

of resources.”26

The history of the dowry must also be explored in order to fully understand the history of

female infanticide and feticide. The custom of dowry is mentioned in the Indian scripture of Rig

Veda itself. With the institution of private property and the emergence of a patriarchal society,

particularly in India and China, the status of women progressively declined. The dowry system

has a social sanction; that is, the contravention of its provisions has a penalty laid down in law

                                                                                                                       24 Ibid. 25 Killing Infants: Studies in the Worldwide practice of Infanticide, 349. 26 Killing Infants: Studies in the Worldwide practice of Infanticide, 350.

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and oftentimes a girl’s parents are pressured by their neighbors and leaders to overreach

themselves, possibly into debt, to solemnize the marriage of their daughter.

Another practice which must be examined is sex-selective abortion. Amniocentesis was

introduced in 1974 to determine birth defects in a sample population, and, since then, India is

one of the foremost places where sex-selective abortion takes place.27 Amniocentesis is a

prenatal test in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is removed from the sac surrounding the

fetus and is tested. It is an accurate way to determine birth defects. However, the aim of these

tests eventually changed, and women began using them to determine whether they wanted to

keep their children based on gender. At present, such technology can only be afforded by those

who are well-off, and high accessibility in rural areas should not be assumed. Other forms of

technology, such as modern methods of contraception, may not be available in rural areas, and

family planning methods rarely reach small, countryside communities. Thus, brutal killing may

be resorted to in order to reduce the size of one’s family. Women can often be pressured into

committing such a deed by their community, “possibly facing physical abuse, disownment from

their husband or parents, and homelessness if they choose to keep a child against the direction of

others.”28 It is important to take into consideration that most of the time these women are subject

to cultures in which family ideology that supports son preference is dominant.29

A report from Bombay in 1984 on abortions after prenatal sex determination stated that

7,999 out of 8,000 of the aborted fetuses were females.30 In most workshops on female feticide,

people invariably present the argument that the dwindling female sex ratio in India is because

                                                                                                                       27 Youth Advocate Program International, “Discrimination against the Girl Child,” http://www.yapi.org/girlchild/. 28 Ibid. 29 Karlekar, "The Girl Child in India: Does She Have Any Rights?", 55. 30 Zeng Yi et al., "Causes and Implications of the Recent Increase in the Reported Sex Ratio at Birth in China," 283.

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people have become conscious of the advantages of having a small family.31 Selective abortion is

becoming more prevalent in urban settings because of certain objective forces like the process of

urbanization, emergence of the joint family system, and emergence of nuclear families, all of

which impel the middle class to opt for a small family. While murder of female infants after birth

might be restricted somewhat to rural areas, it is abortion that is the real problem in an urban

lifestyle. Between 1978 and 1983 as many as 78,000 female babies were aborted after the gender

was determined through clinical tests.32

Of course, this all does not necessarily mean that females are not still valued to an extent.

After all, female children tend to assist with household tasks and food preparation, and most

families are willing to take care of their firstborn child regardless of sex. However, these families

will thereafter resort to reproductive technology to ensure the second child is male. Other factors

that may affect both urban and rural regions are the fear of consequences for illegitimate

pregnancy and the fear of deformity or sickness in children. The rationale for the latter is that it

is better to spare a child suffering in later life by killing them as an infant. There are clearly many

factors that have contributed to this long-lasting and elaborate phenomenon, most of which have

come about due to the changing dynamic of societies (such as the shift to an agricultural society)

and the development of new technologies (such as amniocentesis and abortion methods).

Past Actions

There have been a large number of projects and campaigns committed to changing the

current state of affairs regarding the soaring numbers of female child mortality rates. Among

                                                                                                                       31 Agnani, Missing Girls, 49. 32 Muthulakshmi, Female Infanticide: Causes and Solutions, 38.

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them are groups like Peace Women, dedicated to “prevention with the ultimate objective of

eradicating female infanticide and feticide in the most affected areas.”33 Often the methods for

intervention involve gender sensitization or the attempt to sensitize women to the forms of

oppression in their lives that come from being female, efforts to increase female enrollment in

school and educational programs, creating and building access to employment opportunities for

neglected females, campaigns promoting equality of women and their rights to perform religious

rites, support and fundraising for safer and cheaper healthcare practices, and helping women to

hone the skills needed to be able to navigate the workplace on their own. Thus far, the UN

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has refused to pass a U.S.-introduced resolution

condemning female infanticide and sex-selective abortions.34 NGOs have emerged all over the

globe trying to bridge the economic and social gaps between men and women in regions affected

by this issue, the most frequent targets being villages and rural areas.

Plan International is an Indian organization which has initiated a campaign against female

feticide at the national level. Religious leaders who are proponents for feticide have been

specifically targeted by groups like Plan International since these religious leaders hold a

significant position in their communities. In the same way that religious figures have a hold over

the masses, political leaders have also been approached for the leverage they have on human

rights and development issues.35 Political leaders have been asked to take various approaches

through which the situation can be improved. For one, acknowledgement of the existence of the

problem, such as by recognition in party manifestos and campaigns, is a pivotal first step towards

progress. Though the government is not in favor of feticide and infanticide, it is far simpler to                                                                                                                        33 Peace Women, “Female Infanticide,” http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/India/female%20infantcide.html. 34 Concerned Women for America, ‘UN Won’t Condemn Female Infanticide and Sex-Selection Abortions,’ http://www.cwfa.org/articles/12537/CWA/life/index.htm. 35 Vishwanath, Female Infanticide and Social Structure, 15.

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not take a stand and ignore the issue completely. Furthermore, NGOs have also worked on

ensuring that government programs for the welfare of female children and women are

implemented vigorously to reduce gender bias.

Another example, the Rajasthan University Women’s Association, has played a crucial

role in the women’s movement in Rajasthan through its activism, ideology, and long-term

interventions. It is dedicated to supporting women in distress and has contributed to

strengthening legal mechanisms and carrying out research activities on the issue of adverse sex

rationing and sex-selective abortions. The group also aims to “build capacities of the community

leaders as catalytic agents” in order to “initiate attitudinal changes within their respective

communities” and so that “the issue of the dignity of the female child may be dove-tailed with

other community discourses.”36 On the more grassroots level, organizations have tried to reach

more directly to the wider public. For example, the Department of Family Welfare, a part of the

government of India, in association with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has

released brochures on myths and misconceptions over population.

Governments themselves have also been taken actions to address the issue. In 1983,

China’s Central Committee Propaganda Department called for, “the protection of infant girls,

and also of women who had given birth to daughters from social ostracism and physical cruelty

at the hands of husbands, parents-in-law or other kinfolk.”37 Additionally, at the 1994

International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, where 20,000 delegates from

various countries congregated, 179 countries agreed, “In no case should abortion be promoted as

a method of family planning. All governments and relevant intergovernmental and non-

governmental organizations are urged to strengthen their commitment to women’s health, to deal                                                                                                                        36 Agnani, Missing Girls, 121. 37 Killing Infants: Studies in the Worldwide practice of Infanticide, 351.

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with the health aspects of unsafe abortions as a major public health concern and to reduce the

recourse to abortion through expanded and improved family planning services.”38 This was an

attempt to move the shift towards preventative measures as the most effective method to deal

with unanticipated pregnancies. However, legislation for abortion in India, namely the Medical

Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act passed by Indian Parliament in August 1971, specifies that

“a registered medical practitioner can terminate the pregnancy if he is of the opinion that the

continuance of the pregnancy would involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman or of grave

injury to her physical and mental health.”39 It is significant to note that angst of unwanted

pregnancy due to a failure of a contraceptive device was assumed to constitute a serious injury to

the health of a pregnant woman.

Multi-lateral collaboration on the status of women may also serve to frame this issue. At

the United Nations Summit in 2000, world leaders laid out the Millennium Development Goals,

among which were promoting gender equality and empowering women as well as reducing child

mortality.40 Prior to this, he Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women of 1979 required its signatories to “take measures to eliminate gender

discrimination and to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices that

constitute discrimination against women.”41 As such, it can be seen that this issue is multi-

faceted and must therefore be approached accordingly. As seen from the attempts to eradicate the

problem from different angles described above, focus can be placed on a preventative approach

or an effort to ameliorate the present situation and work with what is in place.

                                                                                                                       38 Ibid, 63. 39 ‘Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act,’ http://www.mohfw.nic.in/MTP%20Act%201971.htm. 40 Agnani, Missing Girls, 95. 41ECOSOC Division on the Advancement of Women, “Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women,” www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/.

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Possible Solutions

As outlined above, there have been different attempts to influence the current situation by

various legislative as well as non-legislative bodies. While some solutions can be regarded as

preventative measures to contain the problem and to keep it from perpetuating in the future,

others deal with the present moment in the sense that they provide immediate medical care to

women and children in need of it. All approaches are important and should be taken into

consideration when searching for solutions to this issue.

One of the fundamental issues being dealt with is education, which contributes to the

reduction of female infanticide and feticide on a number of levels. Education is surely a

prerequisite for development. It provides people with the necessary knowledge, skills and

purpose required to move in a positive direction. If educational level is very low, people are

poorly equipped to make decisions about their life and to become contributing members of their

societies. The Indian government recognized this correlation and “started an adult education

programme for adult illiterates from 2 October 1978 all over the country.”42 Moreovver,

education can help empower women and rid them of feelings of superstition, caste differences,

and inferiority complexes. Related to education is raising awareness. Awareness-building is a

powerful tool, and programs that implement this sort of project are valuable to communities

dealing with such social issues. While some beliefs may be deep-rooted in a society’s value-

system and should be approached delicately, oftentimes there are superficial misconceptions or

gaps in knowledge that need to be verified to make a considerable difference.

                                                                                                                       42 Muthulakshmi, Female Infanticide: Causes and Solutions, 71.

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Programs that seek to make change by shifting paradigms and opening up influential

figures’ eyes to the issue that are needed around the globe. Furthermore, many other bodies

dedicated to the protection of women and children have sought to make a difference by dint of

immediate medical and psychological redress. Whilst these might aid the women who are

directly involved in this problem, it does not tackle the issue of the fetuses and infants also

directly affected. Thus, such programs must work in cooperation with those mentioned above in

order to provide a holistic solution to the overall problem.

Of course a salient point to take into consideration is how these programs are able to

effectively deal with the crises whilst remaining culturally tactful. It is important that in trying to

educate and shift attitudes, programs do not overstep the bounds of peoples’ cultural psyche.

Additionally, these projects and solutions might be regarded as more passive or long-term in

nature; as such, a more proactive stance is required to combat the issue. Methods for ensuring

implementation and regulation, through policing for example, should be considered.

Bloc Positions

North America, Europe, Australia

The United States recently attempted to pass a UN resolution condemning female

infanticide; however, the resolution failed.43 U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, is

currently emphasizing international women’s rights in general, with a focus on the economic

value of women in male-dominated cultures.44 On the other hand, the Obama administration has

reversed the Bush administration’s refusal to fund the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the program

                                                                                                                       43 Christian Science Monitor, “The Potential in Hilary Clinton’s Global Campaign for Women,” http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0911/p12s01-comv.html. 44 Ibid.

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which allows China to maintain its One Child Policy and the forced abortions that accompany

it.45 The restoration of U.S. funding to UNFPA, though, increases women’s freedom of choice in

reproductive health overall due to its promotion of family planning and contraception, leading to

female empowerment46.

The rest of the Western world gives rise to NGOs that are organized for the empowerment

of women and status of female children globally. The Human Rights Council, which involves

many Western nations such as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, recently released a

statement declaring that traditional values should never override universal human rights47.

Africa and the Middle East

Africa’s current concern focuses more on domestic infanticide and “baby dumping,”

which differs from the female infanticide prevalent in Asian nations.48 However, many African

nations tacitly condone female infanticide, as it is an acceptable custom in many African

countries.49 Though the gender gap is much smaller in Africa, traditions of male-preference are

deep rooted, leading to female infanticide, feticide, and abandonment of baby girls. Like in India

and China, laws exist against infanticide throughout Africa, but seriously lack enforcement.

Additionally, some African states do not have any laws restricting abortion, such as Angola,

                                                                                                                       45 “Obama's UN Rep Touts Administration’s Abortion Sea Change,” http://www.ifrl.org/ifrl/news/091016_4.htm. 46 FAWCO, “Obama administration to restore funding to UNFPA,” http://www.fawco.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=977&Itemid=43. 47 “Canada-Australia-New Zealand (CANZ) Statement on Traditional Values,” http://www.geneva.mission.gov.au/gene/Statement073.html. 48 Nangula, “Namibia: Children March Against 'Baby Dumping Epidemic',” http://allafrica.com/stories/200910140578.html. 49 Muara, “Why Mothers Who Kill Their Babies are Treated Leniently,” http://allafrica.com/stories/200908280951.html.

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Gabon, Libya and Sudan.50 Likewise, many countries in the Middle East fail to control female

infanticide domestically, and laws are intentionally disregarded to follow traditions and customs

that condone human rights violations.

Asia

Commendably, both India and China have released studies depicting the wide gender

gaps between males and females in their respective nations.51 India’s government is continuing

the fight against infanticide, though cases are rarely prosecuted. However, many rural areas

maintain social customs that that lead to infanticide and sex-selective abortions. For instance,

Indian law states that abortions can only be performed in government-approved facilities, yet

only 15% of all abortions meet this requirement—leaving 11.2 million, mostly female, illegal

abortions.52 Similarly, in rural areas such as Salem, about 60% of female infants are killed within

three days of birth.53 Overwhelmingly, undereducated areas enforce the social and cultural norms

regarding preference for male offspring, while disregarding the unenforced laws made to deter

infanticide and feticide. However, more recently, the Christian Science Monitor stated that sex

selective abortions are most prevalent in wealthy urban areas—which could be problematic to

groups advocating education and funding as the main solution to this issue.54 In 2006, Indian

State Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda initiated an economic incentive program for

                                                                                                                       50 “Physical Health (most recent) by country.,” http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_abo_law_nat_law_phy_hea-abortion-law-national-laws-physical. 51 United Nations, “UN agency deplores infanticide of girls in India; praises government for study,” http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8698&Cr=india&Cr1=. 52 Girish, “Infanticide of girls and sex-selection in India,” http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=26919&page=2 53 Ibid. 54 Wheeler, “Gender Selection in India is on the rise,” http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1014/p09s01-coop.html.

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families who have and keep female children.55 In addition, in some places infanticide has

decreased by 50% due to the support of NGOs and policies like this in India.56

China, on the other hand, exacerbates the infanticide and in its nation by refusing to

repeal the One Child Policy—putting families in a position to choose between a son to carry on

the family name or a daughter.57 China instituted the One Child Policy in order to control

population growth; however, many demographers believe the mandate is skewing the gender

ratio. In July, reports surfaced regarding Chinese government officials encouraging parents who

each do not have siblings to have a second child—however, this practice has been reported for a

while and has yet to close the gap between male and female children, and it has not reduced

forced abortions throughout China. As such, it is obvious that even without the One Child Policy,

underlying ideas about females would continue to spur female infanticide. To respond to this, in

2003, a Chinese commission launched an incentive program to enhance the status of girls.58

Effects of this incentive are yet to be determined.

                                                                                                                       55 FAWCO, “A Girl’s Right to Live,” http://www.fawco.org/images/stories/NGO%20Articles%202007%20(CMS)/girl_s_infanticide_report_2007.pdf 56 Ibid. 57 Fragoso, “China’s Surplus of sons, a geopolitical time bomb,” http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1019/p09s02-coop.html. 58 FAWCO, “A Girl’s Right to Live,” http://www.fawco.org/images/stories/NGO%20Articles%202007%20(CMS)/girl_s_infanticide_report_2007.pdf.

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