Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Son Preference

The reading from February 9th:



My inicial reaction to this reading was how unfair some countries treat females. I find it hard to understand how parents and governments could not want their child if it was a female, or how they could intentionally kill their daughter(s), to have a son. Males are taught in countries such as South Korea, India, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan that they are a higher economic value then females. Females



Sex ratios across the world, prove that son preference is desired.



From this reading i learned that son preference is desired not only as a first child but in generl. Many faimlies do not want to have females because they are of lesser value. The only reason to have a female in the family is to get something out of it such as marriage, a dowery, and inhrtitence practices. This gives females a higher economic value.



Questions that i have thought about while reading this article:



I wonder how this makes females feel all across the world. They must know they are undesired and not worth anything. How do they see themselves? Are females used to being looked down upon, or looked at as nothing? How does this affect them emotionally? Are they stable because they were raised this way, or do they know and understand this is unfair, or feel depressed from being put down constently.

1 comment:

  1. As far back as I can remember, I wanted a little boy that I could name Dillon, who would wear little carhartt overalls, run around in the grass with his dog, and that I could take fishing. Never did I really picture this scene with a little girl, however I knew it was a possibility. I didn't think that I had a preference for boys, but I guess that I do.

    Luckily my preference doesn't extend to the extreme that many countries are faced with. I think one key example is China, where it has been known that girls are killed and/or left to die in fields, hoping that the government doesn't find the infant. This is due to the fact that the population is only allowed to have one child per household, and families want to make sure that they have their boy. While not all families take part in this practice, it is a huge issue. It is murder.

    This form of murder probably affects the family in many physiological and psychological ways. For they would most likely grieve over the loss of a child, and having numerous children in the hopes of having a boy, would probably take a toll on the woman giving birth. A woman's body can only take so much.

    However, social pressure demands boys. To many, boys are more valuable than girls, and typically girls are either worthless or cost more money than they are worth. This social stigma affects the decisions of many, leading to this form of murder. But can they really be blamed?

    It seem that the issue lies further beyond the plain desire to have a boy. Instead, it lies in beliefs, social practices, practicallity (boys can endure more physical labor than girls typically can), and tradition. These areas need to be reshaped to address the issue at hand so that less girls will be abandoned at birth.

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