Girl babies don't count - Gendercide Part II

Xinran Xue, a Chinese writer, described a gruesome visit to a peasant family in the Shandong province. The peasant's wife gave birth to baby girl in the home and to Xinran's horror the baby was thrown in a slop pail like roadside dirt by the midwife. The mother was crying as the husband was cursing her out. Xinran tried to save the baby but was stopped by the two police men who had accompanied her. "Don't move," they said. "You can't save it, it's too late." An older woman in the home justified what had happened explained that the baby was not a child. "It's a girl baby, and we can't keep it. Around these parts, you can't get by without a son. Girl babies don't count."

Genocide in China is usually seen as a consequence of the one-child policy or as a product of poverty or ignorance. But it has become clear that there is more to it than these assumed factors. Research shows that between 1990 and 2005 there was surplus of bachelors, known in China as guanggun (bare branches). This increase was not linked to the one child policy. It was a direct result of the war against baby girls.

Like India, China's gender ratio is totally skewed. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the ratio in 2011 is 123 boy per 100 girls. These rates are biologically impossible without human intervention.  Nick Eberstadt, a demographer at the American Enterprise Institute, describes it as "the fateful collision between overweening son preference, the use of rapidly spreading prenatal sex-determination technology and declining fertility.

Other countries that show a skewed sex-ratio included Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Serbia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cyprus and Bosnia. The surprising thing is seeing countries as rich and well educated as South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore with high sex-ratio slanted towards males.

 In South Korea, the surplus of bachelors has sucked in brides from abroad. In 2008, 11% of marriages were "mixed" mostly between a Korean man and a foreign woman. South Koreans are known to be hostile to children of mixed marriages and this new trend of importing brides is causing tensions in this homogenous society. This trend is being seen particularly in the rural areas and the government predicts that half the children from these areas will be mixed by 2020. The population of mixed children has grown enough to have produced a new word: "Kosians" the short form of Korean-Asians.



Sources: The Economist

The power of a First Lady - Asia Part II

Jian Qing - China former First Lady

In Asia where women are constrained by their culture and traditions to be subservient to men, First Ladies have been known to change the fate of their nations and affect millions of lives. Given the right conditions these women have expanded their power and influence in their respective countries.  The most infamous of the many past and present First Wives are from China, according to The Asia Mag, an online magazine. Jiang Qing assisted Mao Zedong in launching the Cultural Revolution and Soon Mei Ling helped her husband, Chiang Kai-shek extend ineffectual rule and delayed China's resistance to the Japanese invasion. Both women were responsible for the blood bath of millions in China.

Imelda Marco - Philippines former First Lady

Imelda Marcos of the Philippines is still known as the world's most famous shoe collector. She supported her dictator husband Ferdinand Marcos whose 20 year reign was marred by massive corruption, nepotism, political repression and human rights violations. When they were sent fleeing to Hawaii in 1986, they are said to have carried so much gold that their plane had to make many refueling stops.

Ibu Tien was less known to the rest of the world, than her husband General Suharto. Suharto was the second president of Indonesia who ruled with an iron fist from 1960s to 1990s. Ibu's official name was Raden Ayu Siti Hartinah, but was known by the Indonesians as Ibu Tien.  Madam Suharto was also known as "Madam 10 per cent" because of the commission she exacted. Her insatiable greed for money influenced her husband to grab money shamelessly. This greed was inherited by her six children who went all out to take money and peddle influence. She was widely acknowledge to be a close confidant and political advisor to her husband, President Suharto. Ong Hok Ham, a prominent Indonesian social historian, said in an interview "When Suharto rose to power, people believed the wife had the 'wahyu' (the flaming womb) and whoever united with her would get the 'wahyu'. After her death, people began to sense the 'wahyu' was gone." Ibu Tien died of a heart attack in 1996.


In countries such as Taiwan, Thailand and even Cambodia, that are considered democracies with regular elections by the West, have unelected First Ladies wielding uncurbed power. In Thailand, Potjaman Shinawatra chooses cabinet ministers for her husband, President Thaksin. The First Lady of Cambodia, Bun Rany Hun Sen runs among other entities the Red Cross. Madam Hun Sen is so powerful, it is said that she can get way with anything even perhaps murder. She was accused by a French magazine of arranging the murder of her husband's actress mistress. Madam Hun Sen did not respond or take action against the accusation.

Wu Shu-jen

The former Taiwan president, Chen Shui-bian was put in power by his wheelchair-bound wife, Wu Shu-jen. His popularity and high approval ratings lasted a few weeks before if fell sharply due to alleged corruption. It was his wife's addiction to money that turned his six year administration into corrupted machinery. They are both currently serving a 19 year jail term that was reduced from a life sentence.


In two of Asia's former British Colonies, Hong Kong and Singapore, the legal system does not allow First Wives to get involved in politics. However, this has not stopped  Selina Tsang nor Ho Ching from participating and exerting influence using alternative avenues. Selina is chief lobbyist of Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (her husband) in Beijing. Ho runs the huge investment firm Temasek Holdings that is owned by the government of Singapore, of which her husband Lee Hsien Loon is the Prime Minister.


These are all powerful women in their own right and even though many seem to have cost their husbands their presidency or run down their countries, they are powerful individuals to reckon with. However, many times they are overlooked when issues are being discussed because they seem like silent, subservient wives. If you want to know the views or position on an issue of the First Lady in any country, listen when the President speaks.

Sonia Gandhi - India

First Ladies are role models for the women in their countries, whether they are good or evil. By virtue of being the most visible females in society they inspire other women who see their lives as more than just staying home and making babies. 


Possibly the most inspiring of all is Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of the late Rajiv Gandhi. She was the exemplary First Lady when her husband was prime minister of India. Her career blossomed after his death and today she runs the ruling Congress Party and through Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, decides on the fate of 1 billion people. This is a powerful woman. A First Lady who is now the First Person of India.

Source: The Asia Mag

Girl-Child Marriage Worldwide and Consequences

Child-bride

More than 100 million girls under the age of 18 years will be married during the next decade in many developing countries around the world. Although the practice has decreased globally over the last 30 years, it still remains common in rural communities and among the poorest of the poor.

In South Asia, nearly 10 million (48%) young girls are married before the age of 18. While in Africa the figure stands at 42% and in Latin America and the Caribbean 29%.




Percentage of girls marrying before the age of 18 - Source ICRW 2007

Country/Continent	Percentage (%)
Niger - Africa	76.62
Chad - Africa	71.53
Bangladesh – Southern Asia	68.74
Mali - Africa	65.45
Guinea - Africa	64.56
Central African Republic - Africa	57.07
Nepal – Southern Asia	56.18
Mozambique - Africa	55.99
Uganda - Africa	54.11
Burkina Faso - Africa	51.91
India – Southern Asia	50.01
Ethiopia - Africa	49.11
Liberia - Africa	48.41
Yemen – Middle East	48.42
Cameroon - Africa	47.22
Eritrea - Africa	47.02
Malawi - Africa	46.92
Nicaragua – Latin America	43.32
Nigeria - Africa	43.32
Zambia - Africa	42.10