Modernity, Gender And “Missing” Women: A Holistic Examination Of Development And Son Preference Connections

Abstract

Asia’s “missing” women, estimated to over 100 million, is a demographic manifestation of economic and cultural forces that collide in urban and industrial development transitions. National modernization or economic development is thought to undermine the social premise of pre-natal sex selection as urban and industrial development transforms rigid patriarchal family structures toward more gender egalitarian systems. Yet, the ratio of boys to girls born has experienced increasing skews in many contexts that undergo such modern development transitions. Thus, the dynamics of social normative change in a context of economic development transitions remains relatively ambiguous. In this research, I problematize key assumptions in modernization theory by distinguishing economic and gender normative contexts as overlapping but unique systems. I first conduct a time-series regression analysis of sex ratio skews for 170 countries from 1970 to 2012. This global analysis examines the extent to which national socioeconomic contexts and ties to global discourses on population and development correspond with sex ratio dynamics. I find that economic factors are mostly unrelated with sex ratio dynamics and contrary to expectations, increasing global ties are positively related with sex ratio skews. While the global-historical analysis shows little support for modernization hypotheses, economic structural associations with sex selective behaviors may be obscured by the nuanced dynamics of economic change and gender normative change. Thus, the second study employs a multilevel logistic regression of sex selective fertility behaviors nested within economic and gender-based violence contexts. Using six Demographic and Health Surveys in the Balkan and south Caucasus regions, I specifically link son preference behaviors with intimate partner violence based on the theoretical parallels between son preference foundations and justifications for wife-beating. I find that son preference fertility behavior is positively linked with increased normalization of wife-beating but negatively related with higher levels of women’s labor force participation. The third and final empirical study uses household data from the China Family Panel Studies to assess the connection between modernization and son preference attitudes for individuals. Using an ordinal logistic regression model for a self-reported importance of carrying the family name, I observe stronger support for modernization hypotheses, particularly that support for patrilineal traditions is lower when women have higher levels of education. Overall, the multidimensional approach in this dissertation highlights some of the tensions in the modernity and missing women phenomenon. Mainly, I observe that sex ratio and son preference dynamics are sensitive to the level of analysis. This indicates that individual attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sex ratio skews are a multidimensional phenomenon that is a function of individuals, contexts and institutions.