Today the BBC published an article regarding the growing gender gap in China. The article highlights a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which states that 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses by 2020. Currently, for every 100 girls born in China, 119 boys are born. In some provinces of China the ratio is as high as 100:130. The article cites sex-specific abortions due to China’s traditional bias towards male children as a major factor in the gender gap and also touches on aspects of class and security, stating that men in poorer parts of China may remain single throughout their life and may become dependent on social security as they age.
However, what I found most interesting about the article is the idea that the growing imbalance means that forced prostitution and human trafficking* has become rampant in some parts of the country. According to Humantrafficking.org, “Chinese women and children are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan, Italy, Burma, Singapore, South Africa, and Taiwan. Many Chinese are recruited by false promises of employment and are later coerced into prostitution or forced labor.” China also has a significant amount of internal trafficking of children for sexual and labor exploitation. Estimates on the number of victims range from 10,000 to 20,000 each year. Human trafficking has also increased in the Asia periphery, as there has been a sharp increase in trafficking women from other Asian countries into China in order to fill the gender void.
Last month China joined the U.N. fight against human trafficking, which could help effectively implement its Anti-trafficking Action Plan for women and children (2008-2012), which took effect in 2007. In the past the Chinese government has been criticized for moving too slowly in executing the Anti-trafficking Action Plan and hopes are that the U.N. will put pressure on the nation to step up to international standards. The BBC piece is a very telling example of how human rights violations such as forced abortions are often cyclical violations. In this case it seems the price of securing social stability will be very high for the Chinese population in the coming years.
Read the BBC article here
*As FPA blogger Cassandra Clifford points out, today is National Global Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Please read her post at http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/01/11/2532/
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