The gender balance in Asia is significantly shaped by the male-biased sex ratios of two of its most populous countries, China and India. The rapid fertility declines in the two countries, resulting from China's one-child policy and India's two-child norm, combined with the advent of sex determination technologies, has contributed to the birth of fewer girls. As a result of these factors, both countries now have an excess of males and a shortage of females.
There is increasing concern over the likely adverse consequences of such highly masculine populations. Most work on adverse sex ratios has dealt with the identification, patterns and causes of skewed sex ratios; Too Many Men, Too Few Women is the first book to focus specifically on the social consequences of the skewed sex ratio in both India and China. Well-known sociologists, economists and demographers come together to explore the social consequences of a skewed sex ratio from varied perspectives: the position of women in communities with fewer women; the likely increase in incidents of crime and violence; the impact on cultural practices such as dowry and bride price, as well as on domestic violence; and possible policy and reform measures that governments can undertake to correct the gender imbalance.
Based on new empirical work and ethnographical accounts, this book takes a critical look at demographic approaches and policies in both India and China. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, as well as researchers, policymakers, and funding agencies involved in population studies and problems related to male-biased sex ratios.
Ravinder Kaur is Professor of Sociology, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi.
Acknowledgements vii
Tables and Figures ix
Publisher’s Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1 Mapping the Consequences of Sex Selection and Gender Imbalance in India and China Ravinder Kaur
Part I: Exploring Consequences
1. Signs of Change? 35 Sex Ratio Imbalance and Shifting Social Practices in Northern India Mattias Larsen and Ravinder Kaur
2. The Effect of a Male Surplus on 61 Intimate Partner Violence in India Sunita Bose, Katherine Trent and Scott J. South
3. China’s Marriage Market and Upcoming 89 Challenges for Elderly Men Monica Das Gupta, Avraham Ebenstein and Ethan Jennings Sharygin
4. Dowry, Daughter Aversion and 118 Demographic Change A Sociological Critique of the ‘Marriage Squeeze’ Patricia Jeffery
Part II: Social Challenges of the Marriage Squeeze
5. Understanding Marriage Squeezes 145 Sex Ratio Imbalance, Gender and Social Policy in China Lisa Eklund
6. ‘Bare Branches’ and the Marriage Market 170 in Rural China Preliminary Evidence from a Village-level Survey Xiaoyi Jin, Lige Liu, Yan Li, Marcus W. Feldman and Shuzhuo Li
7. The Dark Side of the Marriage Squeeze 197 Violence against Cross-region Brides in Haryana Neerja Ahlawat
8. Imbalanced Sex-ratio and Cross-region Marriage 220 The Challenges of Transcending Caste Boundaries Paro Mishra
Part III: Interrogating Policy Responses
9. Social Management of Gender Imbalance in China 249 A Holistic Governance Framework Shuzhuo Li, Shang Zijuan and Marcus W. Feldman
10. Acts of Omission and Acts of Commission 275 The Adverse Juvenile Sex Ratio and the Indian State Rajni Palriwala
11. Understanding Policy and Programming on 302 Sex Selection in Tamil Nadu Ethnographic and Sociological Reflections Shahid Perwez
The Policy Challenges 327 Note by the RGICS
About the Contributors 331 Index 334