More thoughts on Gender Bias & Violence Against Women

I was re-reading and thinking again about the article on Korea's shifting preference for male children (two posts ago), and found myself more and more outraged by the part about abortion and violence against women.

I was particularly disturbed by the Population Fund's warning in a report that the "rampant tinkering with nature’s probabilities in Asia could eventually lead to increased sexual violence and trafficking of women as a generation of boys finds marriage prospects severely limited."

That sounds like some horrible science fiction story; the sad thing is that it could be reality if countries don't change. It makes me so angry that these traditions could "so devalue daughters that mothers would often apologize for giving birth to a girl," that children would be aborted simply for being female, that women around the world are subject to sexual violence and abuse simply by being born into a patriarchal, oppressive society. Imagine the psychological damage these women must endure, those who were somehow allowed to live...that there are still honor killings and genital mutilations in this world...It sickens me.

I remember reading an article that Asian women have a suicide rate twice the national average in the U.K.; that a woman tried to run away from an arranged marriage, because her husband was abusive, but her uncle threatened to kill her if she did not obey. I've read on the American Psychological Association site that "Asian Americans who are born in the United States have a higher risk of committing or being a victim of domestic violence" and that "friends and family may actively urge women to keep quiet."

When will this abuse towards women end? I can see now why Iris Chang was so overwhelmed by the dark subject matter of her research, on atrocities like the Rape of Nanking, and am deeply saddened that the disturbing nature of her work left her weak and may have contributed to her depression and suicide.

I'm not sure what I can do, what one person can do—but everyone in America should be be aware of these atrocities and work to prevent them at home and abroad. Not that the United States is perfect—far from it—which is why we need to appreciate what we have and not take we have for granted.

I shudder to think what I—already quite traditional and conservative among Asian American women—might have been like growing up under a less open environment than this.

Shift in Gender Bias in Korea

This article from Dec. 23 on gender balance in Korea is fascinating. It shows how a change in a country's economy and political system can affect deep-seated prejudices (in this case, Korea's economic boom and shift to democracy helped decrease sexism).

Where Boys Were Kings, a Shift Toward Baby Girls
By CHOE SANG-HUN

In South Korea, once one of Asia’s most rigidly patriarchal societies, a centuries-old preference for baby boys is fast receding. And that has led to what seems to be a decrease in the number of abortions performed after ultrasounds that reveal the sex of a fetus....

When I read this story, I wondered: when will this happen in China?

It is heartening that China and India are now looking at South Korea as a "trendsetter in Asia," and whether these similar socio-economic changes can happen in their own countries.

It's also ironic that Confucian values, which are looked upon as a positive aspect of Asian culture (leading to respect, politeness, caring for your parents in their old age) could also cause such a negative, widespread phenomenon of sexism:

The study suggests that the country’s former authoritarian rulers helped slow the transition by upholding laws and devising policies that supported a continuation of Confucian hierarchy, which encourages fealty not only to family patriarchs, but also to the nation’s leaders.

With the move toward democracy in the late 1980s, the concept of equal rights for men and women began to creep into Koreans’ thinking. In 1990, the law guaranteeing men their family’s inheritance — a cornerstone of the Confucian system — was the first of the so-called family laws to fall; the rest would be dismantled over the next 15 years.

Perhaps sometimes I think America is too liberal, creating frivolous lawsuits and too many borderline cases in favor of free speech, but there is something to be said for democracy helping to bring about equal rights.

I'm really glad this change is happening in Korea, and that even the government started campaigns promoting the value of daughters. It will be interesting to watch how China changes as it increasingly industrializes and grows.