Gender bias in China and India: an evaluation of “missing girls”

Abstract

Previous research has shown the existence of severe gender discrimination in China and India dramatically affecting female survival during childhood, due to the lack of equity between sexes in the access to primary needs, like food and health care. Excess female mortality, together with antenatal discrimination, have caused imbalanced sex ratios with an estimate of 100 million “missing women” at the global level. The main goal of this study is to evaluate female deficit in China and India, distinguishing between the two main causes of the female shortage: prenatal and postnatal discrimination. Such a distinction is essential to the development of effective contrasting actions. The results show that despite – in relative terms - the overall reduction in female deficit in both countries during the 1980-2000 period, the discrimination against girls persisted during childhood and adolescence.