Too many men too few women: social consequences of gender imbalance in India and China

Table of Content:
Acknowledgements vii

Tables and Figures ix

Publisher’s Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction 1
Mapping the Consequences of Sex Selection and
Gender Imbalance in India and China
Ravinder Kaur

Part I: Exploring Consequences

1. Signs of Change? 35
Sex Ratio Imbalance and Shifting Social Practices
in Northern India
Mattias Larsen and Ravinder Kaur

2. The Effect of a Male Surplus on 61
Intimate Partner Violence in India Sunita Bose, Katherine Trent and Scott J. South

3. China’s Marriage Market and Upcoming 89
Challenges for Elderly Men Monica Das Gupta, Avraham Ebenstein and Ethan Jennings Sharygin

4. Dowry, Daughter Aversion and 118
Demographic Change A Sociological Critique of the ‘Marriage Squeeze’
Patricia Jeffery

Part II: Social Challenges of the Marriage Squeeze

5. Understanding Marriage Squeezes 145
Sex Ratio Imbalance, Gender and Social Policy in China
Lisa Eklund

6. ‘Bare Branches’ and the Marriage Market 170
in Rural China Preliminary Evidence from a Village-level Survey
Xiaoyi Jin, Lige Liu, Yan Li, Marcus W. Feldman and Shuzhuo Li

7. The Dark Side of the Marriage Squeeze 197
Violence against Cross-region Brides in Haryana
Neerja Ahlawat

8. Imbalanced Sex-ratio and Cross-region Marriage 220
The Challenges of Transcending Caste Boundaries
Paro Mishra

Part III: Interrogating Policy Responses

9. Social Management of Gender Imbalance in China 249
A Holistic Governance Framework
Shuzhuo Li, Shang Zijuan and Marcus W. Feldman

10. Acts of Omission and Acts of Commission 275
The Adverse Juvenile Sex Ratio and the Indian State
Rajni Palriwala

11. Understanding Policy and Programming on 302
Sex Selection in Tamil Nadu Ethnographic and Sociological Reflections Shahid Perwez

The Policy Challenges 327
Note by the RGICS



About the Contributors 331
Index 334

The gender balance in Asia is significantly shaped by the male-biased sex ratios of two of its most populous countries, China and India. The rapid fertility declines in the two countries, resulting from China's one-child policy and India's two-child norm, combined with the advent of sex determination technologies, has contributed to the birth of fewer girls. As a result of these factors, both countries now have an excess of males and a shortage of females.

There is increasing concern over the likely adverse consequences of such highly masculine populations. Most work on adverse sex ratios has dealt with the identification, patterns and causes of skewed sex ratios; Too Many Men, Too Few Women is the first book to focus specifically on the social consequences of the skewed sex ratio in both India and China. Well-known sociologists, economists and demographers come together to explore the social consequences of a skewed sex ratio from varied perspectives: the position of women in communities with fewer women; the likely increase in incidents of crime and violence; the impact on cultural practices such as dowry and bride price, as well as on domestic violence; and possible policy and reform measures that governments can undertake to correct the gender imbalance.

Based on new empirical work and ethnographical accounts, this book takes a critical look at demographic approaches and policies in both India and China. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, as well as researchers, policymakers, and funding agencies involved in population studies and problems related to male-biased sex ratios.
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