Disposable Daughters: Sex-Selective Abortions
<a reprint of an op-ed that was published on ivillage.ca last week – here’s the piece>
Disposable Daughters
By: Nikisha Reyes-Grange
Over the past few days, the issue of sex-selective abortions has been discussed in almost every major news outlet in Canada. The issue is reports of women from certain ethnic backgrounds (primarily, Asian) electing to abort female fetuses. Canada is just the most recent country to try to grapple with this practice; American legislators have been looking at this issue for a while and attempts to make sex-selective abortions illegal are currently underway. China, India and South Korea have also tried to curtail the practice, with limited success.
To deal with the situation in Canada, the Canadian Medical Association Journal has issued an op-ed piece calling for medical practitioners to not tell people the sex of their fetus until after the 30 week mark (at which point, it would be difficult to obtain an abortion). On the surface, this seems like a good solution, but it may underestimate the lengths people will go to in order to not raise daughters.
China’s one-child policy has had the unintended consequence of large-scale gender imbalance and crime. Sex-selective abortion, child abandonment, adoption and (rumoured) infanticide have reduced the female population dramatically. According to the British Medical Journal, it is estimated that there are between 30 and 50 million more Chinese men than women and that 24 million Chinese men will be unable to find brides by 2020. The solution? Kidnapping, of course! Human trafficking of women to China is on the rise, according to the US State Department.
We should learn from the Chinese experience. While sex-selective abortion is a disgusting and abhorrent practice, attempting to curb it may make the situation worse. Can parents who don’t want daughters be trusted with their care? Or, will forcing people to become the unwilling birth parents of girls lead to abuse, abandonment, neglect or worse? Will we really have solved anything if baby girls are put up for adoption or bounced through foster systems?
What we are dealing with isn’t a legal issue or a medical one. This isn’t about abortion. This is about the role, value and importance of girls in specific cultures. Legislation can’t create values or culture. It can, however, help to change and influence them. What is needed isn’t a law to lock up sonogram technicians, but public policies and programs that increase the value of girls and change attitudes toward them.
Sex-Selective Abortions (coming soon)
I’ve written a piece on sex-selective abortion that will appear shortly on ivillage.ca. Once it’s up, I’ll post the link here.
New Year’s Resolutions
Happy New Year! This is the time of year to consider who we are and who we want to be, and to take steps to be those people in the year to come. So, in the spirit of self-improvement, I hereby name the following as my resolutions for 2012:
1 – Civic engagement. I’ve spent the past 3 years working on Roadmap: 2030 and helping others to get more engaged. 2012 is my turn. I’m going to research and ponder and will have a clear direction in February, but I suspect my engagement will focus on a local area.
2 – Supporting learners. I’ve recently been reading about social mobility and am alarmed by the lack of support for disadvantaged learners beyond high school. Many are ill-prepared for the rigors of post-secondary school and their performance suffers. I hereby resolve to provide support to a post-secondary learner. If anyone knows of any programs a la Pathways to Education that focus on post-secondary, please let me know!
3 – Water coolers. I hereby resolve to continue to engage colleagues, relatives and friends in conversations about current affairs and politics. There are some serious things going on in our city, province and country and I’m going to do my part to raise awareness and learn from the experiences and perspectives of others.
One to watch
Last night, I attended a trunk show by Toronto-based jewelry designer Shay Lowe. Shay’s a recent addition to the jewelry scene, but has already had pieces featured in national media and was chosen to be part of Swarovski’s emerging designer program and roadshow. There’s no doubt why: her pieces are bold, fabulous and beautiful. Check out her designs on her website.
I don’t usually post about jewelry, but I had to make an exception for an entrepreneurial woman who’s making things happen for herself.
Pizza = Vegetable?
As some people know, one of my major passions in life is fitness. I take exercise and diet seriously and continually strive to exceed my personal records. Imagine my surprise to discover that the USA’s Congress doesn’t share my obsession. In fact, a bill has been drafted that would keep french fries and pizza on school menus, counting the fries and the tomato sauce as vegetables. Sigh.
