[tt] [technoliberation] S. Korea reverses son preference thru econ dev

[Eugen Leitl]

----- Forwarded message from "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu> -----

From: "Hughes, James J." <James.Hughes at trincoll.edu>
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:14:39 -0400
To: technoliberation at yahoogroups.com,
	News and views from the IEET <ieet-news at ieet.org>
Subject: [technoliberation] S. Korea reverses son preference thru econ dev
Reply-To: technoliberation at yahoogroups.com


http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2
007/10/09/000158349_20071009133451/Rendered/PDF/wps4373.pdf

Why is Son Preference Declining in South Korea?
The Role of Development and Public Policy, and the
Implications for China and India 

Woojin Chung & Monica Das Gupta

The World Bank
Development Research Group
Human Development and Public Services Team

October 2007

Abstract

For years, South Korea presented the puzzling phenomenon of steeply
rising sex ratios at birth despite rapid development, including in
women's education and formal employment. This paper shows that son
preference decreased in response to development, but its manifestation
continued until the mid-1990s due to improved sex-selection technology.
The paper analyzes unusually rich survey data, and finds that the impact
of development worked largely through triggering normative changes
across the whole society - rather than just through changes in
individuals as their socioeconomic circumstances changed. The findings
show that nearly three-quarters of the decline in son preference between
1991 and 2003 is attributable to normative
change, and the rest to increases in the proportions of urban and
educated people. 

South Korea is now the first Asian country to reverse the trend in
rising sex ratios at birth. The paper discusses the cultural
underpinnings of son preference in pre-industrial Korea, and how these
were unraveled by industrialization and urbanization, while being
buttressed by public policies upholding the patriarchal family system.
Finally, the authors hypothesize that child sex ratios in China and
India will decline well before they reach South Korean levels of
development, since they have vigorous programs to accelerate normative
change to reduce son preference.


 
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Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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