Corporate social reponsibility

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 China’s 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 China’s 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

A

t the unveiling of China’s 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 China’s 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 Xi’an Jiaotong University.
Li Shuzhuo ([e-mail]) and Shang Zijuan (stacy.670@stu. xjtu.edu.cn) are at the Institute for Population and Development Studies,
Xi’an Jiaotong University, China; and Marcus W Feldman (mfeldman@ stanford.edu) is at the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource
Studies, Stanford University, California.
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China’s 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 identification 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 significantly
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Figure 1: Sex Ratio at Birth and Total Fertility Rate in China (1980-2010)

105

1
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 Communiqué of the People’s Republic of China on Economic and Social
Development; 2010, 2010 Census and reported TFR in 2010 Census data.

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 fluctuated 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 first child has risen significantly and that of the second child has dropped significantly. The SRB of the third and higher parity children has fluctuated.
Figure 2: Sex Ratio at Birth by Birth Order (Parity) (2000-10)
SRB
160

151.92

150.6

156.8
143.7

143.2
130.29

120

107.12 108.4

113.73

80
40
0
1

2
Above 3
2000
2005
2010
Source: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005.

Parties

Figure 3: Regional Differences in Sex Ratio at Birth in China (2000-10)
SRB
124

122.9
121.7
119.9 119.9

120

119.09
118.64

115.2

116
114.2

114.06

112

108
Cities

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

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

118

118.24

118.52

122.2

12..44
118.55

120.44

120

1.3

119.66

1.6

109

122

122.07

1.9
113

120.17

117

122.65
124.11
121.06

124

2.2

118.88
117.96

2.5

121

Sex Ratio
126

117.79

SRB

122.66

TFR

119.13

TFR
2.8

124.96

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

SRB
125

116
114
Under 5

0

1
2
3
2000
2005
2010
Source: Censuses in 2000 and 2010; and 1% population sample survey in 2005.

4

for all ages below five years first 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 fluctuations. Second, China’s SRB increases greatly with birth order, and the SRB of the first child has increased significantly 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

The literature concerning the reasons for the high SRB has had two main foci. The first, 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 reflects 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 significant increase in the floating population (domestic migrant workers) has entailed difficulties 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 benefited 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 benefits (such as lower requirements for high school entrance). This has played the role of “negative orientation” for family planning, weakening the benefit-oriented policy.
China’s gender imbalance has also had a series of demographic and social consequences, and may ultimately present a august 31, 2013

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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 women’s 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, trafficking 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
China’s 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 trafficking 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) find 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 difficult 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.

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 women’s 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 women’s 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-identification techniques.
However, China’s 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 Office 2006). In other words, its objective is to promote a fundamental change in people’s 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.

4 Policy Responses and Governance Development

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 five 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 first area in China to experiment with such policies and signified the Chinese government’s 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 government’s 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, trafficking in women and girls, and other illegal activities.

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

Stage 2: Scaling up the Care for Girls Campaign to 24
Counties: From 2003, based on the experience of Chaohu,

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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 benefit-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 justification, prenatal sex identification 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 office 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 specific policy on the governance of SRB in China. Based on it and different stages of
China’s economic and social development, the government formulated a 15-year action plan, with each five 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 Office 2006). Moreover, the
NPFPC put forward a specific 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 justification of fetal sex identification
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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
China’s 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 first “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 “benefits and interests-oriented social policies” and “advocacy”. In the long run, these two measures appear promising in changing people’s son-preference and preventing a rebound in the SRB. Benefits 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 women’s 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

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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 define their different responsibilities on SRB governance. Objective assessment methods include a
“one vote veto”, which means that if a sub-government department does not fulfil 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 specific policies on gender imbalance, and to institute rewards and punishments based on the results.
The final stage has seen the campaign develop into a public policy and strateSRB