Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia / Edition 1

by Elizabeth Croll

Overview

This unique and groundbreaking book seeks to re-focus gender debate onto the issue of daughter discrimination - a phenomenon still hidden and unacknowledged across the world.

It asks the controversial question of why millions of girls do not appear to be surviving to adulthood in contemporary Asia. In the first major study available of this emotive and sensitive issue, Elisabeth Croll investigates the extent of discrimination against female children in Asia and shifts the focus of attention firmly from son-preference to daughter-discrimination.

This book brings together demographic data and anthropological field studies to reveal the multiple ways in which girls are disadvantaged, from excessive child mortality to the withholding of health care and education on the basis of gender. Focusing especially on China and India, the book reveals the surprising coincidence of increasing daughter discrimination with rising economic development, declining fertility and the generally improved status of women in East and South Asia. Essential reading for all those interested in gender in contemporary society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415247641
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/29/2000
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

1. A Weaker Destiny: Daughter discrimination 1.1 Son Preference 1.2 Daughter DIscrimination 1.3 Family Planning 1.4 Gender Reasoning 1.5 Targeting Daughters 2. Demographic Narratives: 'Missing Girls' 2.1 China 2.2 Republic of Korea 2.3 Taiwan 2.4 Vietnam 2.5 India 2.6 Bangladesh 2.7 Pakistan 3. Ethnographic Voices: Disappointing daughters 3.1 China: Wishing for a son 3.2 Welcoming a Son 3.3 Rural Demands, Urban Preference 3.4 Daughter Neglect 3.5 India: The quest for a son 3.6 A Lesser Welcome 3.7 Neglect and survival 4. The Generations 4.1 Expectations and entitlements for planning families 4.2 The Inter-generational Contract 4.3 Son-parent support 4.4 Double-loss Daughters 4.5 Daughter Entitlements 4.6 Familial Exclusion 5. Interpreting Gender: Hierarchy and Difference 5.1 Cultures of Gender 5.2 Divisions of Labour 5.3 Gendered Perceptions 5.4 Gender Development 6. The Girl Child: Agendas and campaigns 6.1 Girls' Rights 6.2 The Girl Child 6.3 India's Girl Child 6.4 China's Girl Child 7. Daughter Empowerment: A new destiny?