Changing Gender Preference in China Today: Implications for the Sex Ratio

Abstract

There is growing evidence in China that son preference is on the decline. But sex ratios at birth, despite a recent small reduction, are still the highest in the world at around 120 male births to every 100 females. We carried out this research to explore current attitudes towards gender preference amongst people of reproductive age in China today, with a view to understanding better the persistently high sex ratio. We conducted in-depth interviews with 212 individuals, aged 18 to 39, in rural and urban areas of three provinces—Yunnan, Guizhou and Zhejiang—and have shown that while son preference has weakened considerably in this reproductive generation, it has by no means disappeared. The sex ratio remains high because of this small minority of individuals who still expresses a clear son preference and who choose sex-selective abortion to ensure male offspring. But its numbers are falling, and this may help to explain the recent downturn in sex ratio and perhaps signals the beginning of a trend towards its normalisation. Intensive local policy interventions have been successful in reducing the sex ratio in some areas and these should be disseminated widely.