Christina Hitrova, Student of International and European Law in the University of Groningen Gender ratio inequality in South Korea

and the social change that defeated it Recently, the world has become more aware of the issue of femicide which until recently was largely unknown to the public. Femicide refers to a practice, happening especially in Southeast Asia, China, India and Pakistan, in which, due to the different value of boys and girls, many girls are mistreated, abused, murdered and even aborted for the simple reason that they are girls. The higher respect and social benefits for having a son, the greater expenditure on daughters and the one-child policy in China lead to many families making this hard decision and have a detrimental effect on the gender ratio in these countries. South Korea was among the countries experiencing this social phenomenon, despite its rapid social, economic and scientific development, including womens education.1 South Korea was the first country to report sex ratio distortions at birth, because the application of sex-selective technology there preceded other Southeast Asian countries.2 With the wider access to better health care and ultrasound technologies, the sex ratio inequality between girls and boys rose in the country and reached its peak in 1990s. In the mid 1990s, the South Korean government began a public awareness campaign warning of the dangers of gender ratio inequality, as well as stricter enforcement of laws forbidding sex-selection technologies.3 This campaign was highly successful, with the gender-ratio-at-birth falling steadily. In policy terms, the strict enforcement of the anti-sex-selection laws in South Korea was seen to have influenced the process of combating gender ratio inequality greatly. In 1991 eight Seoul physicians had their licenses suspended for performing the operations and in the next year the sex ratio in the city fell from 117 girls for every 100 girls to 113 boys for every 100 girls, 4 suggesting that indeed strict enforcement of laws has beneficial effects on controlling the actions of the population. The public awareness campaign, which was devised by the government, has

Chung W and Das Gupta M, Why is son preference declining in South Korea? The role of development and public policy, and the implications for China and India, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, World Bank, 2007, No. 4373, available online at http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2007/10/09/000158349_20071009133451/Render ed/PDF/wps4373.pdf, last accessed 4 January, 2013. 2 Hesketh, T., Wei Xing, Z., Abnormal sex ratios in human populations: Causes and consequences, 2006, available online at http://www.pnas.org/content/103/36/13271.full, last accessed 4 January, 2013. 3 Park, C. B., Cho, N. H., Consequences of Son Preference in a Low-Fertility Society: Imbalance of the Sex Ratio at Birth in Korea, 1995, Population and Development Review, Vol, 21, No. 1. 4 Ibid.

Christina Hitrova, Student of International and European Law in the University of Groningen focused on the problems that a large gender ratio inequality could lead to, namely the upcoming troubles for young men in finding brides. Other areas in which the government may act and which have been found to have an effect on gender ratio, as well as differences in treatment of children, are access to free health care, as not to deter parents from taking their daughters to receive the necessary medical attention, retirement provisions of old families,5 education of girls, which has an effect on preference of parents, including statistical evidence that women with white-collar jobs tend not exhibit son preferences higher age of marriage for women and avoidance of arranged marriages, making women more independent in the marriage itself, leading to lower son preferences.6 All governmental policies, ultimately, are aiming not at controlling the population permanently, but at changing social norms. This has successfully happened in South Korea, nevertheless, researchers argue that this development was not so much due to the governmental efforts, but to the policies combination with many other factors of development in South Korea.7 Some have argued that the road towards balanced gender ratios at birth was taken by South Korea also due to its rising GDP and changing social culture, more readily accepting gender equality and non-discrimination policies.8 An especially important role in the changing social culture is given to the effects of modernity, urbanization and industrialization on social assumptions of genders.9 This is due to the changing of social structures and the importance of family ties, relations and gender for the success of a person later on in life. The urban lifestyle which gives people more freedom of movement and actions, social inclusion and importance has lead to women being looked upon more favorably than in rural areas.10 Industrialization and

5 6

See supra note 2. See supra note 1, pp. 10-11. 7 World Health Organization, Preventing Gender-Biased Sex Selection: An Interagency Statement OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women and WHO, 2011, available at http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501460_eng.pdf, last accessed 4 January 2013. 8 Eckard, E., When Girls Become Liabilities: The Trend of Gendercide in India, Center for Global Prosperity, 2012, available online http://globalprosperity.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/when-girls-become-liabilities-the-trend-ofgendercide-in-india/, last accessed 4 January 2013. 9 See supra note 1, p. 5; also The Economist, Gendercide, The War on Baby Girls, 2010, available online at http://www.economist.com/node/15606229, last accessed 4 January 2013. 10 See supra note 1, p. 6.

Christina Hitrova, Student of International and European Law in the University of Groningen urbanization are thus seen to have molded the social changes that contributed to the normalization of gender ratio in South Korea. It is further argued that anti-discrimination laws and enforcement, female education and equality developments, contributing to female independence, as well as retirement provisions for parents, as not to make them dependent on their children in old age11, have made the social preference for sons seem outdated and unnecessary.12 However, the high GDP of the country at the time of these developments, however, makes some of the lessons from it not completely applicable to the situations in China and India at the moment.13 By actively and strictly enforcing anti-sex-selection laws, through public awareness campaigns, as well as active work in other policy areas such as female education, health care, employment and retirement provisions, a government can indeed gradually change the actions of its society. Urbanization and industrialization are now natural developments happening all around the world in different speeds and will lead to further changes in social structures, interactions, norms and expectations. The current gender ratio at birth in South Korea in 2011 was 1.07 boys per every girl14 and this is proof of the successful developments in the country. Whether India and China, the leading countries experiencing femicide at the moment, will be able to duplicate this effect is yet to be seen, however by using the lessons learned in South Korea and given their growing GDPs, as well as their on-going modernization, they have good prospects eventually to be as successful.

11 12

See supra note 1, p. 5. The Economist, Gendercide, The War on Baby Girls, 2010, available online at http://www.economist.com/node/15606229, last accessed 4 January 2013. 13 Ibid. 14 Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Sex Ratio, available at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2018.html, last accessed 4 January 2013.