Yes, but they've never been able to do it on an industrial scale like this. Our own societies may not have been so different to those of China and India hundreds of years ago, but we mostly grew out of this obsession before it got combined with technology and ran amok. Lucky us.maiforpeace wrote:You think so? They've been ditching females for centuries...before abortion, they would just drown them, bury them, or sell them into slavery. Of course the females that survive can still give birth to more female babies, but somehow I don't think it will create that much of a problem in generations to come. Men will just go out of the country to find a mate.klr wrote:Old habits will die very hard indeed, but yes, it will take a whole generation or two of men who can't carry on the family line before these societies finally get to grips with the problem they've created. The more ingrained the custom and practice, the harder the lesson it will take.Millefleur wrote:I've always thought that surely this will happen.. all these sons to be proud of and no wives to carry on the lineage..?.. and placing a higher value on women as their numbers in society fall.
When you combine it with the one child policy in China, it's even worse, because what it means in practice for many Chinese families is one son and nothing more. If the first child is a son, then many families will stop there. If it's a daughter, they'll try again for a son if they can. No wonder the M:F ratio has risen to 1.3 in parts of rural China.
