Weekend Question 4: Is Anyone Surprised at These Statistics about China?

China’s one-child policy has had a devastating impact on the gender balance:

China now has 119 boys for ever 100 girls, a gender imbalance that is far from the normal 103-100 ratio seen in industrialized nations across the globe. The imbalance has given rise to a culture of massive sex-trafficking and the kidnapping of teenagers and young adults to be forced into marriage.

Though it has started to crack down on the use of ultrasound machines to determine the gender of an unborn child, Chinese lawmakers could not agree on penalties for sex-selection abortions for those who get around the policy.

The country has also become a nation of bachelors as Chinese men have problems finding potential wives and starting families. This has contributed to a rise in crime, prostitution, and other problems.

The latest Chinese census, in April, shows 120 men for every 100 women in the Asian nation, up from 117 per 100 in the 2000 census.

Although the information in the excerpt is vague (is it “boys and girls” or “men and women?), I would suspect that the Chinese census information presented understates the problem, as the ratio for those 40 and older is probably fairly close to 1:1. If so, that means that the male-female imbalance is much greater for those who are eligible to marry. This is just another example of unintended consequences of heavyhanded statist intervention.

And, where is the voice of the National Organization for Women (NOW) on this? Instead of expressing outrage at what is amounting to a systematic defeminization of the world’s largest country, the now.org web site’s home page includes, among other things:

• A complaint about the state court in New York refusing to recognize homosexual marriage;
• Its partnering with CodePink to fast for “peace in Iraq” (CodePink is that charming organization which, among other things, conducts protests at military hospitals harassing injured soldiers);
• Its opposition to sex-specific schools (even though their superior educational results are undeniable);
• A spirited flogging of the falling-apart Duke lacrosse team rape case on behalf of the woman who brought the allegations.

I would think China’s “40 million missing girls” would at least merit a mention on NOW’s home page. Nope.

More background on China’s sex-balance problem is at this MSNBC link. Yes, it’s biased (”There’s no road map yet on how to achieve the goal of normal sex ratio.” — Huh? Instead of fultilely preventing access to ultrasounds, how about ending the one-child policy?), but it has some good stats.
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UPDATE: Speaking of mistreatment of women, stoning one to death who had been in police custody but who was “somehow” taken from the police station where she was held would certainly qualify. Where’s the human rights and feminist outrage? More updates and facts are at Michelle Malkin’s site.