Members of Congress, demographers and representatives from leading human rights organizations are launching a new effort today designed to target gendercide — the practice of eliminate girls via sex-selection abortions, infanticide, or selling or giving away infant or young girls.
On Children’s Day, the various activists and leaders are coming together to say gendercide — the systemic elimination of a particular gender — is wrong. At the press conference, members of the media will view a trailer for an upcoming film on gendercide, in which an Indian mother openly reveals the graves of her eight daughters, strangled because of their gender.
Chai Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, is coordinating the event. The organization, which marks its first anniversary today, wants more discussion of the international security and economic implications of a massive gender imbalance in China and India. Demographers Dudley Poston and Nicholas Eberstadt will present research to members of Congress showing the link between war and a “male youth bulge,” as well as the impact of gender imbalance on currency valuation (leading to trade imbalance).
“It’s important for world leaders to see gendercide is not just a women’s rights issue, but it also leads to trade imbalance, insecurity and a threat to peace,” Ling told LifeNews in a statement. “More and more economists are speaking up about China’s increase in private saving. The drop in Chinese marriages brings the drop in consumption, and until it changes, we will see little change in our trade and exchange rate with China.”
In 1979 in China, 106 boys were born for every 100 girls, for an at-birth gender ratio of 106:100. The following year, China implemented its strict one child family planing policy that has been enforced by forced abortions and sterilizations and that has seen the use of abortion and other methods to eliminate girls because of the cultural preference for boys. Today in China, the gender ratio has risen to 120:100 with no sign of dropping and the Chinese government reports that there are 37 million more men than women.
India’s cultural preference has also lead to the disappearance of millions of girls, according to new reports.
“Human rights heroes have been persistent in this movement to stand up for girls in China. This press conference is an important time to connect new leaders from various backgrounds in economics, politics and finance. Our leaders need to understand how this tragedy is affecting all of America today,” Ling said.
Ling says historical research shows that countries with a large “male youth bulge” such as China have shown increased aggression and violence. Crime rates have nearly doubled in China over the last 20 years and the “bachelor bomb” keeps ticking.
Reps. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Chris Smith of New Jersey will join the event along with T. Kumar, Amnesty International Director of Advocacy for Asia and the Pacific, and Zhang Yuhong, a forced abortion victim.
Ling concluded: “Together, whether we are pro-life or pro-choice, Democrat or Republicans, we can all agree that the systemic elimination of girls simply because they’re girls is a crime that has to be stopped. We are thrilled to work with U.S. leaders to discover root causes of gendercide, to understand the tragedy, and to explore solutions. We hope and pray to one day work with China’s and India’s leaders to end gendercide worldwide.”
