The decline of son preference and rise of gender indifference in Taiwan since 1990

Abstract

This study explores the change of married women’s sex preference for children in Taiwan since 1990, finding that there was a substantial decline of son preference and rise of “gender indifference”, defined as feeling indifferent about children’s sex (as opposed to desiring an equal number of boys and girls, in which the sex of children is still a primary consideration). Results show that at the individual level female education was the strongest predictor for the preference; education was negatively associated with son preference and positively with gender indifference. Cohort difference was noticeable, too. Younger cohorts were better educated than older ones so that they were more neutral about the sex and less adherent to the traditional male preference; besides, from 1992 to 2002 there was a universal intra-cohort movement toward gender neutrality and away from son preference. When the younger cohorts gradually replaced the older ones as the main child bearers in the Taiwanese society, at the aggregate level son preference declined and gender indifference rose.

Son preference and sex-selective abortion in China: informing policy options

“…In South Korea, during a period of rapid economic growth in the 1980s, sex ratios became the highest in Asia, though this was attributed to the novelty of easy access to sex-selective abortion (Park and Cho 1995). Taiwan demonstrated a similar pattern in the 1990s (Lin 2009). China's sex ratio has increased since the 1980s virtually in parallel with its economic growth and now has the world's highest sex ratio with an estimated 32 million excess men under the age of 20 (Zhu et al 2009).…”

“After birth” abortion: a biomedical and conceptual nonsense

“…In China, this large surplus of young men is now reaching reproductive age, with consequences yet to be ascertained, because failure to marry and have children inevitably affects a man's social status and acceptance in society. These young men have low self-esteem, feel marginalized, lonely, withdrawn and depressed [32], leading the government to make efforts to reduce sex selection with some degree of success, since -according to recent surveys -there is a significant decline in son preference in East Asia [33,34].…”

Reproductive contributions of Taiwan´s foreign wives from the top five source countries

“…The co-residing proportion was 59.4% for Vietnamese wives and 55.8% for Indonesian wives, compared with 39.7%, 41.6%, and 45.7% for their Chinese, Thai, and Filipina counterparts, respectively. For reference Lin (2009) found from Taiwan's 2002 "National Survey on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Health Promotion" that 38% of currently married women in the 20-44 age group in Taiwan co-resided with their husbands' parents or their own parents.…”

“…The proportion of the foreign wives with at least a college degree was as high as 39.3% for the Filipinas, compared with only 3.6% for the Vietnamese and 5.1% for the Indonesians. For reference Lin (2009) showed that 29% of Taiwan's currently married women in the 20-44 age group in 2002 had more than 12 years of education.…”

“…For comparison, in 2007, there were 31,807 marriages in Japan that involved couples with a foreign wife and a Japanese husband, representing 4.4% of all marriages. 4 It is worth noting that in addition to the societal forces and personal motivations behind the strong and persistent demands for, and supplies of foreign workers and foreign brides (see Huang 2006;Lan 2002;Piore 1979;Wu and Wang 2001;Yang and Tsai 2007;Yi and Chang 2006;Chen 2008;Lin 2009;Tien and Wang 2006;Jones 2007;Hsia 2005), the annual flows of such individuals are subject to the influences of the policies and manipulations of national governments, sometimes resulting in sharp fluctuations with respect to both volume and major places of origin. 5 In Taiwan, the abolishment of martial law in 1987, the lifting of the strict regulations against visiting relatives back in Mainland China in 1988, and the first granting of permission to the Mainland spouses of 4 Based on the data from the website of Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, http://www.ipss.go.jp/syoushika/tohkei/Popular/, Table 6-16 Marriages by the Nationalities of Husbands andWives: 1965-2008), downloaded on April 25, 2010.…”