Saying that āplaces like China and India kill baby girlsā is a culturally biased and even racially discriminatory statement. The truth is, the tragic phenomenon of female infanticide in China was not rooted in traditional culture but rather in state-imposed violence and extreme policies during specific historical periods.
Clarification:
1. State violence, not cultural tradition:
The phenomenon of killing female infants was not a cultural norm but a result of Mao Zedongās population control initiatives, later intensified during Deng Xiaopingās one-child policy. These policies disproportionately targeted the Han ethnic majority, especially in rural areas.
2. Male labor tied to state benefits:
During the collectivist era, land and resources were allocated based on the number of able-bodied laborers in a family. A boy meant future labor and more land. The state demanded massive grain quotas from the Han population to trade for weapons with Stalinās USSR. Under these pressures, families often saw baby girls as economic liabilities.
3. It wasnāt the peopleāit was the policy:
The government created a brutal environment in which families had to make tragic choices. These were not cultural acts, but desperate responses to a system that devalued human life.
4. Minorities exempted:
Ethnic minorities in China were generally exempt from the one-child policy, making it clear that these policies were not cultural but discriminatory in nature.
Thus, blaming āthe people of such placesā ignores the historical and political realities and inflicts secondary harm on those who were themselves victims of these policies. It is not āChinese cultureā that killed baby girlsāit was the system.
