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| Hannah Wilson Class of 2017 |
Don't want your baby? Put it in the box.
It might sound insane, but this practice is prominent in China, where the genocide of baby girls is becoming a very real issue. China's recent revoking of their one-child policy does not change the Chinese cultural notion that it is better to have sons than daughters, and female babies have died in large numbers as a result. And though having a baby girl no longer depletes one's chances of having a son, decades of Chinese parenting philosophy has left them with a youngest generation that is overwhelmingly lopsided in regards to gender, with approximately 1.06 males to every .91 females.
What does this mean for China's population distribution? Maybe nothing - for now. In the long term, however, there could be some dire effects.
For one, China's aging population could experience an increase in homelessness - something they cannot afford - due to the decrease in marriages among younger generations and willingness to care for the elderly population. That population is already seeing an increasing percentage of its demographic living on the streets, a number that has risen exponentially in the past decade.
Additionally, rural populations could decrease in size due to the lack of reproduction. An already rapidly urbanizing state, the percentage of Chinese living in cities could explode, an effect that could easily dovetail into an economic upset. Changes in levels of agricultural production, overcrowding in cities, and the deserting of rural villages and less populated areas could all play into the cost of living, the amount of revenue from agribusiness, and the standard of living for urban dwellers.
This kind of turmoil is not ideal for China, who many scholars argue is pressing toward democratization. On a purely symbolic level, democracies thrive on balance: between both the government and the people, and the people and themselves. If China were to democratize, they will face an overwhelmingly male population. The effects of this imbalance could change the face of women's rights, the role of women in society, and the ability for women to permeate an already male-dominated political space in public administration.
Hannah Wilson is a senior McConnell Scholar studying philosophy, political science and women and gender studies at the University of Louisville.