I just read a detailed, eloquent and well-researched post on the staggering gender gap in China. Just a sample:
Perhaps by forcing down the percentage of women in society China will finally come to value them more equally with men. For the time being however, the imbalance is, in my mind, a damning indictment of a culture that values one half of its population more highly than the other half. For those who believe that every human being is endowed with intrinsic and equal worth and rights for the fact of being human, it is an intolerable realization to know that in China this is not so, to the point that abortion, infanticide, and abandonment, are used to underline how worthless a female’s life is.
For those who want all the figures and charts on this phenomenon, the same poster led me here.
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By undertree
The question I keep asking is what is China going to do with the outrageous surplus male population in 10-20 years? Quick figures make me estimate around 50 million men in their early 20s who don’t stand a chance of finding a woman and having a family the traditional way. More for the army? How about the crime rate? Rape? Migrant workers? You’re talking about 50 million young men very likely to float… I can’t imagine what impact it is going to have on Chinese society.
Great post, once again, Richard.
August 26, 2003 @ 5:30 pm | Comment