CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

Social Management of Gender Imbalance in China A Holistic Governance Framework

Li Shuzhuo, Shang Zijuan, Marcus W Feldman

With rapid social transition, gender imbalance has become one of the most significant issues of Chinas social management, raising many problems and challenges. Innovation in social management urgently needs the new perspective of a holistic governance framework. Based on the latest trends in gender imbalance, this paper reviews Chinas strategic policy responses and actions on the governance of the male-skewed sex ratio at birth. It then focuses on the care for girls campaign to analyse the current public policy system, and proposes a social management framework to address the gender imbalance.

1 Introduction

t the unveiling of Chinas 2010 population census, during the 28th collective meeting of the political bureau of the central committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in April 2011, former Chinese president, Hu Jintao said that the country must maintain its existing family planning policy to stabilise the low birth rate. He explicitly proposed that the care for girls campaign should be carried out to deal with the high sex ratio at birth (SRB), with the ultimate aim of achieving gender equality. Since 1996, the Chinese government has attempted to address the problem of gender imbalance, and has achieved some success over the past two decades. But there is still little systematic commentary on the current system of genderimbalance governance. Also, in the context of Chinas social transformation, there are problems with an uncoordinated policy system and inadequate evaluation of governance performance. The national Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-15) has brought the social management system into prominence. Social management in China, done mainly by the government, social organisations and civil society, provides management and services for coordination, monitoring and self-correction in various areas of social policy and development (Xu 2012). In February 2011, Hu delivered an important speech at a seminar on Social Management and its Innovation for provincial and ministerial leaders. He stressed that the social management system of Socialism with Chinese characteristics should be constantly improved. Gender imbalance and its governance are important in the social management system, which is also an important platform for the governance of gender imbalance. A re-examination of gender imbalance from the social management perspective is urgently needed.

2 Situations of Gender Imbalance

This study was jointly supported by Ford Foundation (Grant No 0135-0620) and the 985-3 Project of Xian Jiaotong University. Li Shuzhuo (shzhli@mail.xjtu.edu.cn) and Shang Zijuan (stacy.670@stu. xjtu.edu.cn) are at the Institute for Population and Development Studies, Xian Jiaotong University, China; and Marcus W Feldman (mfeldman@ stanford.edu) is at the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, Stanford University, California.
Economic & Political Weekly EPW

Chinas family planning policy enabled its total fertility rate (TFR) to decline from 5.8 in 1970 to about 1.5 in 2005 (Feng 2011) so that it is now a low-fertility nation (Guilmoto 2009). From 1980, alongside the family planning policy and widespread use of technology for identication of fetal sex, strong son preference had driven a steady rise in the sex ratio. It is abnormally high, hovering around 120 since 2000 (Li, S 2007), and though it declined to 117.94 in 2010, it remains extremely high. From Figure 1 (p 80), we see that the SRB increased gradually from 1980 to 2005. Although, the SRB was normal in 1980, with the decline of the TFR, it began to increase signicantly
79

august 31, 2013

vol xlviII no 35

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

Figure 1: Sex Ratio at Birth and Total Fertility Rate in China (1980-2010)
SRB 125 TFR 121 117 113 109 105 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Source: 1980-87, China Population Statistics Yearbook 1991; 1988, National fertility birth control sample surveys data; 1989, 1990 Census; 1990-99, 2001-04, Chinese Demographic Yearbook by year; 2000, 2000 Census; 2005, 1% population sample survey in 2005; 2006-09, Statistical Communiqu of the Peoples Republic of China on Economic and Social Development; 2010, 2010 Census and reported TFR in 2010 Census data. SRB TFR 2.8 2.5 2.2 120.17 1.9 1.6 1.3 1 118 116 114 1 2 3 2000 2005 2010 Source: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005. Under 5 0 4 122 120

Figure 4: Sex Ratio of Population Aged 0-4 in China (2000-10)

122.65 124.11 121.06 124.96 Sex Ratio 126 124 122.66 12..44

122.07

119.13

118.88 117.96

119.66

120.44

118.55

118.52

122.2 118.24

during the decade. It reached its highest level of 121.18 in 2005, a serious deviation from the normal level of 105-107. The SRB has uctuated between the years 2005 and 2010 and declined over the last three years. The SRB tends to increase with parity, or birth order, as is clear in Figure 2 the higher the birth order, the higher the SRB. Normally, the SRB should decline very slightly from low to high parities (Banister 2004), but the opposite has occurred in China (Li, S 2007). The 2010 Census data show that the sex ratio of the rst child has risen signicantly and that of the second child has dropped signicantly. The SRB of the third and higher parity children has uctuated.
Figure 2: Sex Ratio at Birth by Birth Order (Parity) (2000-10)
SRB 160 120 80 40 0 2 Above 3 2000 2005 2010 Source: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005. 1 Parties 113.73 151.92 143.2 130.29 107.12 108.4 156.8 143.7 150.6

for all ages below ve years rst increased, and then decreased during the period from 2000 to 2010. The regional distributions and parities of the sex ratio, gender imbalance, and its changes exhibit three main characteristics. First, the SRB is still persistently high despite some complex uctuations. Second, Chinas SRB increases greatly with birth order, and the SRB of the rst child has increased signicantly from 2000 to 2010. Third, there is a large disparity in the SRB between urban and rural areas, with the rural SRB being much higher. However, over time, all regional SRBs have tended to rise.
3 Reasons and Social Implications

Figure 3: Regional Differences in Sex Ratio at Birth in China (2000-10)

SRB 124 121.7 120 115.2 114.2 112 114.06 119.9 119.9 118.64 119.09 122.9

116

108 Towns Counties 2000 2005 2010 Source: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005. Cities

The SRB differs between urban and rural areas (Figure 3), being higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The data from 2010 show that the overall SRBs in both urban and rural areas are on a downward slide compared to 2005, but they are still much higher than the normal level of 105-107. The sex ratios of children aged 0-4 has been extremely high for the past 20 years in China. Figure 4 shows that the sex ratio
80

The literature concerning the reasons for the high SRB has had two main foci. The rst, is the demand for boys among groups of reproductive age. We call that son preference. Son preference is embodied in Chinese traditional culture, the old-age security problem and the need for male labour (Das Gupta 2004). The traditional division of labour by gender makes women economically dependent on men (Chow 2004). The second can be viewed as a supply issue, which reects the improvement in technology for sex determination (Yi et al 1993), and is the proximate cause of the high SRB in China. In addition to traditional patrilineal Chinese culture (Li, S 2007) and old-age economic security (Banister 2004), the popularity of ultrasound imaging, socio-economic development, and the emergence of new demographics have aggravated the problem of gender imbalance. For example, a signicant increase in the oating population (domestic migrant workers) has entailed difculties for population management (Wu et al 2005). The newly established and expanded national social security system and new policies in rural areas, including the rural cooperative medical system and the rural social pension insurance system, have to some extent counteracted family planning-related social policies that gave preferential treatment to rural people who complied with the family planning policy (Li and Shi 2010). These policies have beneted all rural residents based only on personal or family economic conditions, instead of compliance with the family planning policy, so some impoverished families receive more benets (such as lower requirements for high school entrance). This has played the role of negative orientation for family planning, weakening the benet-oriented policy. Chinas gender imbalance has also had a series of demographic and social consequences, and may ultimately present a
august 31, 2013 vol xlviII no 35
EPW Economic & Political Weekly

117.79

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

threat to sustainable social development (Cai and Lavely 2003, 2004; Banister 2004; Hudson and Andrea 2004). The literature on the consequences of biased SRB mainly focuses on the marriage squeeze and the status of women. It emphasises the public security consequences of biased SRB from the perspectives of population risk, social risk, health risk, economic risk, and so on (Jin and Liu 2009; Liu and Li 2011). The shortage of women has revealed the damage that has been done to womens right to survival and development. The male marriage squeeze, due to lack of marriageable women (Hesketh and Xing 2006), has had negative impact on the welfare of adult males and exacerbated the spread of pornography, trafcking in women, and other undesirable behaviour (Li, S et al 2006). It has also had a negative impact on the stability of the family. These problems may induce the social anomie behaviour of stakeholders and exacerbate some social risks, which could have adverse effects on public security and social stability. Ultimately, it could affect harmonious social development in China (Liu 2003; Li and Chen 2009). At the macro level, the high SRB has social implications for Chinas society. Male-biased gender imbalance is usually associated with the problem of public safety. Numerous studies discuss the relationship between gender imbalance and public safety from the point of view of crime and the spread of disease. They acknowledge that the emergence of bachelor groups is likely to engender serious problems. On the one hand, it could increase the crime rate, with trafcking in women, abnormal marriages, and so on. On the other hand, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases may increase and become a pandemic within China. These problems could damage the social order and national public safety (Liu and Li 2010; Jiang and Li 2011). Some studies have shown that with the shortage of women, older bachelors resorted to commercial sex to address their physical needs (Liu and Li 2010). This constitutes a threat to public security through the increase in prostitution, sex crimes, organised crime, and so on (Hudson and den Boer 2002). Jiang and Li (2011) nd that the gender imbalance contributes to an increase of criminality. It also results in economic risk and could undermine economic growth. In addition, it could reduce the labour force, increase household savings, and reduce domestic consumption (Jin and Liu 2009; Li and Hu 2012). At the micro level, the high SRB has social implications at both the individual and family levels. The marriage squeeze could lead to a large number of older bachelors, with consequences that are serious and difcult to eliminate. The reason that a majority of older bachelors cannot marry is their low socio-economic status (Li, N 1995). Though they have good overall health, they face the problem of unmet sexual and emotional needs, which may lead to social and psychological problems (Liu and Li 2011; Li and Hu 2012). This, in turn, could affect their psychological well-being, leading to a decline in their living standards.
4 Policy Responses and Governance Development

as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan have experienced an increase in SRB, followed by a slow decrease (Park and Cho 1995). In order to improve womens living conditions and promote their advancement, the governments of different countries, and different regions in China, have adopted measures such as safeguarding the rights and interests of girls, preventing discrimination against women, and improving womens legal status. Through government guidance and actions, the SRB in some countries where it was previously high is now close to normal (Song and Jiang 2008; Wei and Liang 2008; Yang and Li 2008). Thus, with a combination of policy interventions and socioeconomic development, it is possible to control a high SRB.
4.1 National Care for Girls Campaign

In the early phase, policies were mainly aimed at the proximal cause of the high SRB namely, sex-identication techniques. However, Chinas SRB continued to increase, and has been very high since 2000. In 2006, the Chinese government began to promote the care for girls campaign, which is a national government-led public policy system initiated by the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC). By protecting the basic rights and interests of women and girls such as survival, development and participation, it aims to improve their living environment and survival, and to ultimately promote gender equality (National Care for Girls Ofce 2006). In other words, its objective is to promote a fundamental change in peoples attitudes towards childbearing by weakening the son preference. The population directly affected by the care for girls policy is at least 100 million, making it a very important public management tool (Jiang et al 2004). The campaign has included the following three stages. Stage 1: Chaohu Experimental Zone to Improve Girl-Child Survival: From 1998 to 2003, the Chinese central government began to support research into improving the living environment of girls in ve counties (districts) of Chaohu city, where it carried out a comprehensive pilot project. The Chaohu Experimental Zone (CEZ) adopted a strategy of paying equal attention to the creation of macro and micro environments favourable to girls. This was the rst area in China to experiment with such policies and signied the Chinese governments intervention against the high SRB as a new focus of family planning (Li , S et al 2003). After three years of implementation, the SRB of Chaohu city fell from 125 in 1999 to 114 in 2002 (Li, S 2006). The CEZ expanded awareness of the governments effort to improve the survival of girls and laid the foundation for government action on gender imbalance. Based on the experience from the experimental zone, two illegalities 1 in some local family planning policies were prosecuted in terms of laws or regulations, including, for example, strict management of drugs for termination of pregnancy, forbidding the drowning of baby girls, discrimination against females, trafcking in women and girls, and other illegal activities. Stage 2: Scaling up the Care for Girls Campaign to 24 Counties: From 2003, based on the experience of Chaohu,
81

The phenomenon of a high SRB is not unique to China. There are different levels of gender imbalance, such as in India (Das Gupta and Li 1999), and other countries and regions such
Economic & Political Weekly EPW

august 31, 2013

vol xlviII no 35

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

the Chinese government extended the care for girls campaign to 24 counties in 24 provinces (Li, S 2006). All 24 counties had extremely high SRB, and were selected on the basis of data from the 2000 Census and related surveys. For these programmes, the government focused on three main areas constraintoriented work,2 benet-oriented work,3 and innovative work 4 (Yang and Shang 2010). The campaign had six core aspects law enforcement against illegal sex-selective abortion without medical justication, prenatal sex identication of the fetus, and infanticide; a life cycle approach to family planning and reproductive healthcare services; social and economic policies; advocacy; data collection, analysis and performance evaluation; and leadership and management. The work at this stage suggested that the care for girls campaign could be an effective way to improve the survival of girls and curb the increase in the SRB. Eventually, there was a gradual decline in the SRB of the 24 counties on an average their mean SRB declined from 133.8 in 2000 to 119.6 in 2005, or 14.2% (Li, S 2007), increasing awareness of the desired number and gender of children, improving girls living conditions, and the status of women. As the work on advocacy of gender equality and the elimination of gender in equality proceeded, people began to pay attention to the care for girls campaign and the issue of the high SRB in the country. At this stage, the campaign was known around the country and there was a solid foundation for covering the whole nation. Stage 3: National Promotion and Extension of the Campaign: In 2005, based on the experience in the 24 counties, the general ofce of the State Council forwarded an action plan for extensively unfolding the campaign and comprehensively addressing the issue of abnormally high SRB, jointly distributed by the NPFPC and 11 ministries. This indicated that China would scale-up the campaign to the whole country as a national strategy. In July 2006, the implementation outline for the campaign was promulgated to cover 31 provinces by 2007. From 2007, the care for girls campaign became a specic policy on the governance of SRB in China. Based on it and different stages of Chinas economic and social development, the government formulated a 15-year action plan, with each ve years devoted to a distinct aim. It was to stop the rise in the SRB in the period 2006-10; to pursue a gradual decline in the period 2011-15; and to sustain the decline and attain a normal level in the period 2016-20 (National Care for Girls Ofce 2006). Moreover, the NPFPC put forward a specic target for the SRB to decline to 115 in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period (2011-15).
4.2 National Public Policy System

Public policy is the principal means of government intervention in social management (Chinese Public Administration Society 2005). In 2002, 11 ministries and commissions of the state council issued Comments on the Comprehensive Governance of High SRB. In the same year, all provinces started to amend the provincial population and family planning regulations. By the end of 2005, family planning regulations in 29 provinces (except Guangxi and Tibet) clearly prohibited non-medical justication of fetal sex identication
82

and sex selective termination of pregnancy. By the end of 2010, 30 provinces had revised their family planning regulations and eight had adopted special regulations for the comprehensive governance of the SRB. In addition, departmental rules and regulations for the comprehensive management of the SRB were promulgated in 10 provinces. During the care for girls campaign, the governance of Chinas gender imbalance was at the national level; that is, the government led the national care for girls campaign as a strategic platform. At the national promotion stage in 2006, the government launched a major leadership programme with a 2 + 2 +1 governance model. The rst 2 referred to cracking down on the two illegalities and whole-course services, which in the beginning were very effective in controlling the rapid rise of the SRB. Cracking down on the two illegalities played a preventive role through managing the system of ultrasound imaging and sex-selective abortion, while training legal ultrasound practitioners and medical staff in ethics. Whole-course services aimed to provide complete reproductive health services for both men and women throughout their lifetime, with the government providing sustainable family planning and reproductive health services at the grass-roots level. Its ultimate goal was to improve the quality of family planning services and to ensure the safety of the mother and child. The services were referred to as three examinations, pregnancy health services, and pregnancy monitoring.5 The government undertook follow-up and monitoring. The second 2 referred to benets and interests-oriented social policies and advocacy. In the long run, these two measures appear promising in changing peoples son-preference and preventing a rebound in the SRB. Benets and interests-oriented social policies have priority in implementation, mainly to regulate the living environment of daughter-only households through improvement of economic and social systems and development policies. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality by improving the situation of girl-only households on education, employment, medical care, rights, pensions, and so on. For advocacy, the government focused mainly on publicity on gender equality. Depending on the target, advocacy organisations develop appropriate proposals, and then carry out a variety of promotional activities, including environmental advocacy, media campaigns, promotional literature, thematic campaigns, and the like. There is also training to publicise the concept, including various courses organised by the population school at all levels, including villages. The population school is where the government teaches people about reproductive health and advocates gender equality. Advocacy also focuses on getting rid of outdated cultural practices in rural areas. The government has tried to ban feudal discrimination against women, including prohibiting womens participation in ancestral worship and other folk activities. In promoting a variety of advocacy activities, the goal is to develop a care for girls culture and ultimately a better environment for the survival of girl children. The 1 referred to statistics, monitoring and evaluation, government monitoring of the policy implementation process at all levels constitutes the institutional support for SRB governance.
august 31, 2013 vol xlviII no 35
EPW Economic & Political Weekly

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

The government requires different Figure 5: Sex Ratio at Birth by Province during 2000, 2005 and 2010 in China sub-governmental authorities to sign papers, called accountability documents, which dene their different responsibilities on SRB governance. Objective assessment methods include a one vote veto, which means that if a sub-government department does not full its responsibilities, it will be penalised. Taking advantage of the care for girls campaign, the government has tried to establish a rational assessment system to evaluate the performance of work on implementation of the specic policies on gender imbalance, and to institute rewards and punishments based on the results. The nal stage has seen the campaign develop into a public policy and strateSRB <= 107 gic platform for national governance of 107<SRB <=110 110<SRB <=120 120<SRB <=130 gender imbalance. This is not only a SRB>130 Missing data process for SRB governance, but also involves promoting the legislative procSource: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005 in China. ess for governance issues. Corresponding to the target of achieving a normal SRB in China, the govern- governance in the last three decades appears to have achieved ment dened goals for each ve-year period, including curbing some success. Following the spread of the care for girls SRB increase, and reducing and stabilising the SRB (National Care campaign all over the country after 2006, the national SRB has for Girls Ofce 2006). As a part of the platform, the government declined. In 2010, and according to data from the 2010 Census, has also introduced benet-oriented family planning, which com- the SRB had declined to 117.94, which suggests that a turning prises three systems and ve actions. The three systems include point has been reached (Gupta et al 2009). According to the 2000 the family incentive/rewards scheme for family planning/birth and 2005 Census data, nine among 31 provinces saw a decline control in rural areas; the fewer births, more wealth project, in the SRB. From 2005 to 2010, it declined in 18 provinces. More and the system to assist families in family planning. The ve provinces are now moving towards lower levels (Figure 5). actions include the introduction of new contraceptives in rural China, the care for girls campaign, action on maternity care, the 5 Gap Analysis and Challenges for Policy Responses happiness project, and the new rural-new family plan. In addition, a real-name registration system for new births that restricts governance by health departments has become a national policy, after it was rst introduced by the Hainan provincial government in July 2007. This system requires newborns to undergo a real-name registration when mothers are in hospital after their delivery, and this encourages pregnant women to go to healthcare organisations to deliver their babies. The midwife units in hospitals ll in a registry book of births with the mothers name, information on her medical records, and the name, identity card number, and address of her spouse. After that, the mother has to obtain a medical certicate of birth and register as a neonatal household at the ministry of public security. This policy allows effective monitoring of the SRB trend. It provides the government real-time SRB data, data on the growth of the population, on birth defects, and so on, which provide a basis for decisionmaking concerning the governance of the gender imbalance.
4.3 Impact

Though the decline of the SRB is linked to some aspects of social and economic development (Chung and Gupta 2007), its
Economic & Political Weekly EPW

The traditional governance issues of gender imbalance are relatively simple, and mainly concern the care for girls platform implemented by ofcials of the NPFPC. There is fragmentation of social management in the governance departments, which has to be replaced by coordination and cooperation among them (Zhu 2008). In addition, not all the stakeholders of gender imbalance are fully covered. There is little systematic analysis of the gender imbalance social management system (Nie 2011) and gender imbalance governance is fragmented (Wei and Wu 2011). From a holistic governance perspective, we nd that the existing public policy and social management systems focus mainly on the reasons for gender imbalance. There is little emphasis on its consequences. There are many government agencies concerned with the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, but there are no directly relevant policies for vulnerable groups such as old bachelors. At the same time, Chinas social and economic development has brought the rights and needs of various special groups to attention. This means new scenarios are needed for gender imbalance research and policy implementation, such as recognition of the rights of groups with different sexual orientations (Bo et al 2012).
83

august 31, 2013

vol xlviII no 35

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

Figure 6: Social Management Model of Holistic Governance
Public Policy System

governance that is outlined in Figure 6. Based on this model, the whole public policy system can be improved. (1) Governance Level and Social Risk: Social management problems are often associated with various kinds of social risks, which are different at the macro and micro levels. Therefore, social management requires a holistic point of view for implementation of management measures at different levels, as well as dealing with risks at each level.

Social Management Concept Macroscopic Country Resolve Social Risks

Social Management Problems

Regularise Social Behaviour

Levels Microscosmic

Local

Individual Less Integration

Coordinate Social Relations More Integration

D ep

tm ar

en

ts

Civil Society

Functions

Governments

In addition, existing governance has overlooked the reproductive freedom and reproductive rights of ordinary people. This has come in the way of implementation of existing policies on gender imbalance. On the whole, governance practices lack adequate public participation (Nie 2010). The present characteristics of gender imbalance governance, and its problems, have to be the driving force towards a new system of social management (Wang 2012). The social management of gender imbalance needs to be transformed from fragmentation to integration.
6 Social Management of Gender Imbalance 6.1 Framework based on Holistic Governance

(2) Integration of Governance and Regularisation of Social Behaviour: Social management should reect the characteristics of modern administrative integration (Chinese Public Administration Society 2005). Social groups of individuals follow the norms of their society; they are expected to exhibit normal behaviour in their interpersonal relationships. The social management process uses social rewards and punishments to respond to compliance and violations (Ding 2011). Public policies and the legal system are an important means of including social norms in this formal governance process. (3) Coordination of Departments and Social Relationships: Many governance issues can be integrated among the public sector, autonomous organisations (such as government-recognised organisations), private organisations, and other components of civil society. This will promote the development of publicprivate cooperation to their mutual benet and ultimately solve the problem of social management through coordination.

Holistic governance is the latest development in public governance theory and is a response to fragmentation in public administration. It emphasises the integration of organisational forms and stakeholders at different levels, including the macro (4) Public Policy System from a Holistic Perspective: Public and micro (Young and Thyil 2008). It also coordinates the formal policy is the most signicant part of social management (Ding relationship among organisations, and a variety of partnerships 2011). Different social problems require different public policies and networks to achieve efcient use of resources, negotiation of to be managed. The public policy system is related to all aspects public issues, and supply of public services (Gao 2010). Holistic of social management, including risk management policies for governance aims at an integrated framework for social man- social issues, coordination of social relationships, and regulariagement. Some scholars have proposed a three-dimensional sation of social behaviour. model that integrates functionality between agencies and departments within government (Leat 2002). This model com- 6.2 Governance Gap of Gender Imbalance bines the horizontal structure of the government with a vertical and Its Social Management hierarchy that emphasises the integration of multiple levels, The social management model of holistic governance includes functions and participants. three characteristics for the process, and these are demandIn recent years, Chinas social management practice has be- oriented, non-mandatory services and meeting needs come more humanitarian, emphasising win-win bene- Table 1: Problem Analysis from the Perspective of Social Management Social Behaviour Regulation Social Risk Elimination Social Relationship Coordination ts by promoting social progress, multi-stakeholder in volvement, and collaborative governance (Zheng 2006). Integrity of level Absence of vulnerable Ignoring risks of groups and minority micro-level The goal of social management is to achieve a favourable populations among consequences stakeholders social order, social equity and justice, to stimulate social Ignoring coordination Absence of Lack of coordination vitality, and to maintain social harmony. Social manage- Integrity of with social consequences of between different ment theory includes four components solving social function development system governance policy departments problems, regularising social behaviour, coordinating Integrity of Lack of participation of social relations, and resolving social risks (Ding 2011). department non-governmental organisations We propose a social management model of holistic
84
august 31, 2013 vol xlviII no 35
EPW Economic & Political Weekly

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

Figure 7: Holistic Social Management Framework of Gender Imbalance in China

Goal of Social Management

Gender Equality

Mutual Promotion

Socially Harmonious Society

Fertility Behaviour Behavior
Number Preference Gender Preference

and ultimately to promote gender equality (National Care for Girls Ofce 2006). (2) Social Risk Elimination: To resolve social risks due to gender imbalance, we should not only focus on the governance of the reasons for this imbalance, but also on the governance of the consequences, including macro issues, such as crime, and micro-level issues such as the anomie of older bachelors.

Governance Goal

Problem of Social Management

Governance of Gender Imbalance

Social Social Behaviour Behavior Regulation Regulation

Holistic Governance

(3) Social Behaviour Regulation: The fundamental reason for the high SRB is that parents want to have sons (Juhua 2009). Therefore, fertility attitudes and behaviour are issues that Coordernation Civil Society Governments Social Society demand social management. Fertility attitudes include two foci, viz, the Interests of Vulnerable Groups number of children people want to Social Relationship have, and their gender preferences. Coordination We need to rst regulate peoples fer(Zhang 2012). Our analysis of gender imbalance found that there tility attitudes, so as to change their reproductive behaviour. is a lack of holistic governance in the entire process (Table 1, p 84). Government-led social management has the following gaps. (4) Method of Social Management: In addition to special First, social management of gender imbalance needs to focus public policies against gender imbalance, integrating the pubon the interests of vulnerable groups. Traditionally vulnerable lic policy system will require a combination of the medical sysgroups in gender imbalance such as households who only have tem, the security system, and the retirement pension system. girls, and the many unmarried men are often neglected. Such vulnerable groups need to be studied and their problems (5) Social Relationship Coordination: The government departaddressed. In addition to vulnerable groups, gender equality ments involved in the governance of gender imbalance need to advocates do not have diversied rights. Therefore, they face strengthen their partnership with civil society. At the same time, limitations. Community-based interventions to address gender vulnerable groups among stakeholders, especially older bachimbalance are designed to promote gender equality, and are based elors, should be recognised. on equal rights for males and females. However, there is a lack of 7 Conclusions recognition of the rights of sexual minorities (Bo et al 2012).
Medical System Security System Retirement Pension System

Social Risk Elimination

Reasons

Technical Cultural Traditional Cultural Technical Reasons reasons Technical

Social Implications and Risk

Macroscopic consequences Microscopic consequences

Public Policy
Targeted at Reasons Targeted at Implications

Holistic Governance

Social Development System

Social Social management management Approach way

Second, the public policy system needs to be improved. Vulnerable groups cannot take part in policymaking, and their interests are therefore easy to ignore and their needs are more difcult to dene, deliver and full. Third, governance is by a single department of the government, and there is a lack of coordination and cooperation with other departments. Governance is now by the family planning department, and despite some participation by others such as the health department, coordination and co-governance are still absent and difcult to implement.
6.3 Holistic Governance Framework for Gender Imbalance

Through analysis of gender imbalance in terms of holistic governance theory, this paper summarises a holistic social management framework for it in China (Figure 7). This framework consists of ve parts. (1) Goal of Social Management: By protecting the basic rights and interests of survival, development, protection, and participation of women and girls, the goal of gender imbalance social management is to improve girls living environment and survival,
Economic & Political Weekly EPW

The holistic social management framework of gender imbalance concerns the consequences and risks at all levels, and also focuses on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of vulnerable groups. Integration of social systems and the public policy system will create a comprehensive system of social management. The social management innovation of this paper is based on the governance experience with gender imbalance. By introducing holistic governance theory and analysing the public policy system from the social management perspective, this paper proposes a holistic social management framework for gender imbalance in China. The government has already implemented numerous practices, which are incipiently holistic. For example, beginning with a sectoral cooperation system, in 2011, the central government carried out a joint investigation of the two illegalities, which united six ministries. This action provided a platform for government department cooperation at all levels. Meanwhile, international organisations are also beginning to focus on the issue of gender imbalance in China and to take practical action. In October 2011, six international organisations, including the United Nations Population Fund and United
85

august 31, 2013

vol xlviII no 35

CONSEQUENCES OF GENDER IMBALANCE

Nations Childrens Fund, held a special high-level advocacy meeting in Hanoi on gender imbalance and its governance. Finally, we have some suggestions for implementation of this framework. First, the government should pay more attention to improving the public policy system. In the strategic platform of the national care for girls campaign, the central government should bring minority populations, such as older bachelors, into the system and improve public policy from their point of view. In addition to the special policies for
Notes
1 The two illegalities meant fetal sex determination and sex selection for non-medical needs. 2 Constraint-oriented work is controlling the Two-illegalities behaviour and the regulation of ultrasound and imaging. 3 Interest-oriented work has preferential policies in aspects of old-age security, healthcare, education and employment. 4 Innovative work is the advocacy policy focus on reversing peoples son-preference. 5 Three examinations refers to the reproductive health services carried out by the NPFPC, including checking contraceptive measures, pregnancy, and disease.

gender imbalance, the system should be combined with the policies on social development. Second, the government should ensure the integration of governance objectives from a holistic perspective. They should be concerned about all stakeholders and vulnerable groups affected by gender imbalance. Older bachelors and sexual minorities who are neglected should be incorporated into the social management framework. Third, the participation of civil society should be strengthened.
International and Historical Perspective, Population Journal, 5, pp 32-40. Liu, S (2003): More Male than Female Cannot Improve Status of Women, Population Research, 5, pp 44-47. National Care for Girls Ofce (2006): Guidance for Care for Girls Campaign, in Chinese, Beijing, China Population Press. Nie, J B (2010): Limits of State Intervention in Sex-selective Abortion: The Case of China, Culture, Health and Sexuality, 12 (2), pp 205-19. (2011): Non-medical Sex-selective Abortion in China: Ethical and Public Policy Issues in the Context of 40 Million Missing Females, British Medical Bulletin, 98 (1), pp 7-20. Park, C B and N H Cho (1995): Consequences of Son Preference in a Low-fertility Society: Imbalance of the Sex Ratio at Birth in Korea, Population and Development Review, 21 (1), pp 59-84. Song, L and Q Jiang (2008): Existence of the Indian Female Sex: Present State, and Causes for and Countermeasures against its Deterioration in Chinese, South Asian Studies Quarterly, 1, pp 71-77. Wang, Y (2012): From Control to Pluralistic Governance: A Social Management Conversion Model, Changbai Journal, 4, pp 127-30. Wei, Y and Y Liang (2008): Public Governances of Imbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth in South Korea and Implication for China in Chinese, Population Journal, 6, pp 15-22. Wei, Y and Y Wu (2011): Fragmentation of Governance on Imbalanced Sex Ratio and Countermeasures: A Holistic Governance Perspective, Population Research, 2. Wu, H et al (2005): Rural-Urban Migration and Sex Ratio at Birth in Urban Regions of China: Analysis Based on 5th Census in Chinese, Population and Economics, 6, pp 11-18. Xu, Y (2012): Chinese-Style Social Management: On the Base of System Analysis, Social Sciences in Nanjing, 6, pp 71-77. Yang, X et al (2008): Girl Child Survival and Its Public Policy Governance in Taiwan of China, in Chinese, Journal of Public Management, 5 (2), pp 86-94. Yang, X and Z Shang (2010): Mode Recognition for Gender Imbalance Governance in China From Analysis on 24 Pilot Counties and Districts in the National Care for Girls Action Programme in Chinese, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University (Social Sciences), 3, pp 63-69. Yi, Z et al (1993): Causes and Implications of the Recent Increase in the Reported Sex Ratio at Birth in China, Population and Development Review, 19 (2), pp 283-302. Young, S and V Thyil (2008): A Holistic Model of Corporate Governance: A New Research Framework, Corporate Governance, 8 (1), pp 94-108. Zhang, H (2012): Flexible Social Management in China: Why and How?, 6, pp 49-53. Zheng, H (2006): Sociological Perspectives on Social Construction and Social Management, Journal of Renmin University of China, 2, pp 1-10. Zhu, Q (2008): From New Public Management to Holistic Governance, Chinese Public Administration, 10, pp 52-58.
vol xlviII no 35
EPW Economic & Political Weekly

References
Banister, J (2004): Shortage of Girls in China Today, Journal of Population Research, 21 (1), pp 19-45. Bo, Y et al (2012): Sexuality and Imbalanced Sex Ratio in China: A New Perspective and Research Framework, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University (Social Sciences), 32 (3), pp 60-66. Cai, Y and W Lavely (2003): Chinas Missing Girls: Numerical Estimates and Effects on Population Growth, China Review, 3 (2). (2004): Chinas Missing Girls: Numerical Estimates and Effects on Population Growth, Studies in Family Planning, 35 (2), pp 145-47. Chinese Public Administration Society (2005): Accelerating Chinas Social Management and Public Service Reform, Chinese Public Administration, 2, pp 10-15. Chow, E (2004): Global Perspectives: Women, Family and Public Policies, Chinese edition, Beijing: Social Science Document Press. Chung, W and M D Gupta (2007): The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea: The Roles of Development and Public Policy, Population and Development Review, 33 (4), pp 757-83. Das Gupta, M and S Li (1999): Gender Bias in China, South Korea and India 1920-1990: Effects of War, Famine and Fertility Decline, Development and Change, 30 (3), pp 619-52. Das Gupta, M, Sunhwa Lee, Patricia Uberoi, Danning Wang, Lihong Wang and Xiaodan Zhang (2004): State Policies and Womens Agency in China, the Republic of Korea and India 1950-2000: Lessons from Contrasting Experiences in Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton (ed.), Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press), pp 234-59. Ding, Y (2011): History and International Perspective of Social Management Development, Journal of Chinese Academy of Governance, 6. Feng, W (2011): The Future of a Demographic Overachiever: Long Term Implications of the Demographic Transition in China, Population and Development Review, 37, pp 173-90. Gao, J (2010): The Holistic Governance of Governments Cooperation under the Regional Public Management Perspective: An Analysis Framework of Cross-border Governance, Chinese Public Administration, 11. Guilmoto, C Z (2009): The Sex Ratio Transition in Asia, Population and Development Review, 35 (3), pp 519-49.

Gupta, M D et al (2009): Evidence for an Incipient Decline in Numbers of Missing Girls in China and India, Population and Development Review, 35(2): 401-16. Hesketh, T and Z W Xing (2006): Abnormal Sex Ratios in Human Populations: Causes and Consequences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103 (36), p 13271. Hudson, V M and M Andrea (2004): The Security Implications of Asias Surplus Male Population (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press). Hudson, V M and A D Boer (2002): A Surplus of Men, a Decit of Peace: Security and Sex Ratios in Asias Largest States, International Security, 26 (4), pp 5-38. Jiang, Q and B Li (2011): The Effect of Gender Imbalance on Crime Rates, Journal of Public Administration, 8 (1), pp 71-80. Jiang, X and C Wu et al (2004): Social Background of Cherishing Girls Action and the Analysis of Public Administration (in Chinese), Market and Demographic Analysis (04): 59-62+51. Jin, X and L Liu (2009): Identication of the Social Risks and Anomie in the Context of Gender Imbalance in China, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University (Social Sciences), 29 (6), pp 41-50. Juhua, Y (2009): Parity-Intensication Effect: Birth Planning Policy and Sex Ratio at Birth in China, Population and Development, 15 (4), pp 37-51. Leat, D, Kimberley Setzler and Gerry Stoker (2002): Towards Holistic Governance: The New Reform Agenda (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave). Li, N (1995): High Sex Ratio at Birth and Marriage Squeeze Consequences, Population Science of China, 1. Li, S (2007): Imbalanced Sex Ratio at Birth and Comprehensive Intervention in China, paper presented at the 4th Asia Pacic Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights, Hyderabad. Li, S et al (2003): Chaohu Experimental Zone Improving Girl Child Survival: Project Manual, in Chinese, Beijing: China Population Press. Li, S et al (2009): Gender Imbalance and Social Sustainable Development in China: An Interdisciplinary Research Paradigm and Framework in Chinese, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University (Social Sciences Edition), 29 (6), pp 28-40. Li, S and Y Hu (2012): Macroeconomic Consequences of Gender Imbalance: Review and Prospect, Population and Economics, 2. Li, S, C Zhu and X Liu (2006): Chaohu Experimental Zone Improving Girl Child Survival: Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation, in Chinese, Beijing: China Population Press. Li, W and Y Hu (2012): A Survey of Mental Anomie of Unmarried Rural Male Migrant Workers, Journal of Xian Jiaotong University (Social Sciences), 32 (1), pp 76-81. Li, X and R Shi (2010): Benet-oriented Policy on Rural Family Planning, in Chinese, Population and Economics, 5, pp 86-96. Liu, H and S Li (2010): The Amplication of Social Risk and Its Control under the Context of Gender Imbalance: Case Study of Mass Disturbance, China Soft Science, 5, pp 152-60. (2011): Population Health and Public Security under Gender Imbalance: A Review on the
august 31, 2013

86