中國重男輕女到什麼程度？

Why are female foetuses aborted in China? Does an increase in the number of abortions of female foetuses reflect an increase in son preference? Sociologist Lisa Eklund from Lund University in Sweden has studied why families in China have a preference for sons.

At the time of the census in 2005, almost 121 boys were born for every 100 girls. Last year's census showed that sex ratio at birth (SRB) had improved somewhat. But it is still too early to celebrate, in Eklund's view: the narrowing of the gap does not necessarily mean that girls are valued more highly.

Because of the high SRB, there has been a tendency to picture China as a country where son preference is strong and possibly increasing since the 1980s. However, Eklund argues in her PhD thesis that using SRB as a proxy indicator for son preference is problematic. She has therefore developed a model to estimate what she calls "son compulsion," where data on SRB and total fertility rate are used to estimate the proportion of couples who wants to give birth to at least one son and who take action to achieve that goal. When looking at variation in son compulsion over time and between regions, Eklund finds that new patterns emerge that do not surface when using SRB as a proxy indicator. Contrary to popular belief, son compulsion remained steady in rural China (at around 10 percent) while it increased in urban China in the 1990s (from 2.8 percent to 4.5 percent).

"This doubling concurred in time with cuts in the state welfare system in the cities, which meant that adult sons were given a more important role in providing for the social and financial security of the elderly," she says. Her findings call into question the assumption that son preference is essentially a rural issue. They also have implications for comparative perspectives and her findings suggest that son compulsion may be higher in other countries even though they expose lower SRB.

When it emerged that far more boys than girls were being born in China, the Chinese government launched the Care for Girls Campaign to improve the value of the girl child and to prevent sex-selective abortion. Nonetheless, the imbalance between the sexes continued to increase. Eklund's findings suggest that the campaign may actually have done more harm than good. Families receive extra support if they have girls and in rural areas exceptions are made from the one-child policy if the first child is a girl.

"By compensating parents of girls in various ways, the government reinforces the idea that girls are not as valuable as boys," says Eklund.

Eklund further challenges the notion that families in rural areas want sons because sons are expected to take over the farming.

"That is a weak argument," says Eklund. "Young people, both men and women, are moving away from rural areas. Of those who stay, women provide just as much help as men. In fact, it is the elderly who end up taking greater responsibility for the agriculture."

However, there are also other reasons why sons are seen as more important for families. Traditionally, a girl moves in with her husband's family when she gets married and she thus cannot look after her own parents when they grow old. Boys also play an important role in ancestor worship, and they ensure that the family name lives on.

Eklund further finds that there is a stubbornness in both popular and official discourses to view son preference as a matter of parents and grandparents without looking at structural factors that help underpin the institution of son preference.中國家庭爲什麼不想要女嬰？越來越高的女嬰墮胎率是否反映出重男輕女的趨勢呢？爲了弄清楚中國的家庭爲什麼重男輕女，來自瑞典隆德大學（Lund University ）的社會學教授麗莎•埃克隆德（Lisa Eklund） 進行了一項研究。

在2005年的人口普查中，男女出生性別比例大約是1.21比1。去年的人口普查顯示，不平衡的男女比例有所改善。但在埃克隆德看來，現在高興爲時過早，男女出生率差距的減小並不意味着不再重男輕女。

男女出生比率懸殊，這一現象顯示出中國是個重男輕女的國家，而且這一趨勢大約從20世紀80年代開始愈演愈烈。然而，埃克隆德在她的博士論文中指出，用新生兒性別比例來判斷是否重男輕女是不合理的。因此她開發了一個模型分析中國人對兒子的執念。有的夫妻希望起碼生一個兒子，並且願意爲此採取行動。埃克隆德通過初生嬰兒性別比例數據和整體出生率估計類似夫妻在中國所佔的比例。在跨時段、跨地區的分析之後，埃克蒙德發現了新的規律。而這一規律在新生兒性別比例的干擾下不會顯現出來。90年代，農村地區一直穩定地偏愛男孩（約爲10%），而城市裏比率卻在增加（從2.8%上升到4.5%），這一現象與普遍觀念是相悖的。

她說：“這一現象是伴隨着城市養老保障福利萎縮而產生的，因爲這樣意味着長大成人的兒子是老年人養老保障的重要來源。”她的這一發現動搖了人們對重男輕女主要在農村存在的觀念。他們也透漏出相對的觀點，而且她的發現表明，一些國家即使新生兒性別比例較合理，但在這些國家“養兒防老”觀念可能更重。

覺察到男孩出生率高於女孩，中國政府發起“關愛女孩”的活動以增加對女孩的重視，防止選擇性別的墮胎行爲。然而，性別比例的不平衡現象仍在加劇。埃克隆德的研究表明這樣的活動實際上可能起到的更多是負作用。

“生了女孩的家庭能得到額外補助，還有農村的計劃生育政策有所放寬，如果頭胎是女孩的話，還可以再生一胎。通過這些形形色色補償女孩的父母的方式，政府實際上加強了女孩不如男孩重要的觀念，”埃克隆德說。

農村家庭想要男孩，因爲男孩能挑起農活重擔。埃克隆德進一步挑戰了這一觀念。

“這是站不住腳的，”埃克隆德說，不論男女，年輕人正逐漸從農村遷出，那些留下來的，女人能幹男人乾的活兒。實際上，最終是年紀大的人承擔了更多農活的重擔。

然而，男孩在家裏更受重視還有其他原因。通常來說，女孩要嫁到丈夫家那邊去，就不能再照顧自己日漸年邁的父母了。男孩還在祭祖傳統中佔有重要地位，要由他們傳宗接代，確保本姓氏源遠流長。

埃克隆德進一步發現，民間和官方都有一個固有觀念，認爲重男輕女是父輩和祖輩的問題，而沒從結構因素來看其深層原因。