China's government is to begin monitoring of gender ratios among
newborn babies and the efficiency of measures against the sex
imbalance later this year, said an official in Beijing on
Wednesday.
Vice Minister of the State Commission for Population and Family
Planning (SCPFP) Zhao Baige said SCPFP and Ministry of Health
officials would be dispatched around the country to undertake
surveys.
More than 60 expert teams had already started evaluations of
gender ratios and trends, and a survey of the implementation of the
government's "Care for Girls" program, initiated in 2003.
In China, especially in rural areas, sons are traditionally
preferred to daughters, which has resulted in many prospective
parents electing to have an abortion if tests show the fetus to be
a girl.
As a result, there are 119 boys born for every 100 girls in
China, much higher than a global ratio of 102 to 107 boys for every
100 girls.
The "Care for Girls" program, covering 24 counties in 24
provinces, aims to educate the public, farmers in particular, on
gender equality, and to promote the social status of women, while
cracking down on fetus gender identification and selective abortion
for non-medical purposes.
The program will be promoted across the country this year.
As part of the program, the SCPFP has initiated a competition on
knowledge of the program in villages, towns, counties, cities and
provinces from July to November.
(Xinhua News Agency July 13, 2006)