Indias sex ratio is getting worse. The trend can bereversed.

　　印度的性別比例扭曲越加嚴重，這個趨勢能夠逆轉

　　THE news from Indias 2011 census is almost allheartening. Literacy is up; life expectancy is up;familysize is stabilising. But there is one grim exception.In 2011 India counted only 914 girlsaged six andunder for every 1,000 boys.

　　來自印度2011年的人口調查的消息幾乎都讓人振奮。識字率上升;預期壽命上升;家庭規模穩定。但是有一個例外，很嚴峻。2011年，印度6歲及其以下的兒童中每1000個男孩對應只有914個女孩。

　　Without intervention, just a few more boys would be born than girls. If you compare thenumberof girls actually born to the number that would have been born had a normal sex ratioprevailed,then 600,000 Indian girls go missing every year. This is less distorted than the sexratio in China,but whereas Chinas ratio has stabilised, Indias is widening, and has been fordecades. Sex selection is now invading parts of the country that used not to practise it.

　　在自然情況下，出生的男嬰只比女嬰多一點。如果你按照正常的性別比例比較一下實際出生的和本應該出生的女嬰的數字，你會發現每年有60萬的印度女孩不翼而飛。這個性別比例的扭曲程度雖然比中國輕一點，但是中國的性別比例已經穩定，而印度的還在擴大，且這種狀況已經持續幾十年了。性別選擇正在侵蝕著印度的部分地區，而這些地區以前不曾這樣過。

　　Indias sex ratio shows that gendercide is a feature not just of dictatorship and poverty.UnlikeChina, India is a democracy: there is no one-child policy to blame. Although parts of thecountryare poor, poverty alone does not explain Indias preference for sons. The states withthe worst sex ratiosPunjab, Haryana, Gujaratare among the richest , whichsuggests distorted sex selection will not be corrected just by wealth or government policy. Butit can be corrected.

　　印度的性別比例表明性別滅絕不只是由于專制和貧窮。與中國不同的是，印度是個民主國家，沒有只生一個孩子的計劃生育政策。盡管印度的部分地區很窮，但是僅僅貧窮不能解釋印度對于男孩的青睞。性別比例最扭曲的邦，比如旁遮普邦、哈里亞納邦和古吉拉特邦，都是印度最富有的地區。這表明扭曲的性別選擇將不會由于財富和政府的政策得以糾正。不過，性別比例是可以得到糾正的。

　　Parents choose to abort female fetuses not because they do not want or love their daughters,but because they feel they must have sons ; they also want smallerfamiliesand something has to give. Ultrasound technology ensures that this something is ageneration of unborn daughters, because it lets them know the sex of a fetus. Sex selectiontherefore tends to increase with education and income: wealthier, better educated people aremore likely to want fewer children and can more easily afford the scans.

　　父母選擇墮掉女胎不是因為他們不想要或者不喜歡他們的女兒，而是因為他們覺得必須有兒子;而且他們想要更小的家庭，因此要放棄一些東西。超聲波技術能夠讓父母們知道胎兒的性別，因此確保了他們放棄的是一代未出世的女兒。因為性別選擇隨著教育和收入的增加而趨于流行，所以更富有、受教育更好的人們更有可能要更少的孩子，也能更輕松的負擔檢查的費用。

　　But whereas sex selection may be understandablefor a family, it is disastrous for a nation. It is anextreme expression of an attitude that saysdaughters are worth less than sonsa belief that isdamaging both to women and to the nextgeneration, since healthier, better educated mothershave healthier, better-educated children.

　　然而性別選擇雖然對于單個家庭是可以理解的，但是對整個國家卻是個災難。這是重男輕女的態度的極端表達。因為更健康、受教育更好的母親才能養育更健康、受教育更好的孩子，所以性別選擇對于女性和整個下一代都是有害的。

　　If sex ratios stay the same, 600,000 missing girls this year will become, in 18 years time, over10m missing future brides. Robbery, rape and bride-trafficking tend to increase in any societywith large groups of young single men. And because in China and India men higher up thesocial ladder find wives more easily than those lower down, the social problems ofbachelorhood tend to accumulate like silt among the poorest people and the lowestcastes. This is unjust as well as damaging.

　　如果性別比例還是不變，一年60萬消失的女孩將在18年內變成超過1000萬消失的未來新娘。在任何一個擁有大量單身男性的社會中，搶劫、強奸和買賣新娘都會趨于增加。由于在中國和印度，上層的男性比底層的男性更容易的找到老婆，因此光棍化的社會問題將會越積越多，就像陷入最貧窮的人或者是最低的種姓中一樣難以自拔。這既有害也不公平。

　　Over time, the problem may right itselfas the experience of South Korea, where a sex ratiothat was highly distorted in the 1990s and is now approaching normality, suggests. In India,attitudes are changing. According to the latest census, female literacy, improving generalhealth care, improving female employment rates [are] slowly redefining motherhood fromchildbearing to child rearing. Census 2011 is perhaps an indication that the country hasreached a point of inflection and in the worst-affected areas, sex ratios are becoming lessdistorted. But governments need to hurry the process along.

　　隨著時間流逝，這個問題或許會自我糾正，正如韓國的情況顯示的那樣。韓國在20世紀90年代性別比例極度的扭曲，現在已經接近正常。在印度，重男輕女的態度正在轉變。根據最近的人口調查，女性識字率的提高、改善的普通醫療和升高的女性就業率正在慢慢的重新定義母親的角色，這涉及從分娩到撫養孩子成人的整個過程。2011人口調查或許表明印度已經達到了拐點，在情況最嚴重的地方，性別比例扭曲程度變輕了。但是政府需要加速這個過程。

　　Cherish the girls珍惜女孩

　　India and China, to their credit, are trying to do so. India, for example, bans ultrasound scansfrom being used merely to identify a fetuss sex; it also makes sex-selective abortionsillegal. But gendercide cannot be reduced just by coercive laws. In middle-income places,ultrasound scans are becoming basic prenatal procedures; it is all but impossible to stopparents from getting to know their childs sex. If a government cracks down on legal abortions,families will get illegal onesrisking the life of the mother, as well as that of her unborndaughter.

　　值得贊揚的是，印度和中國都在努力縮小性別差異。例如，印度禁止只是用于分辨胎兒性別的超聲波檢查，還規定選擇性墮胎違法。但是性別滅絕行為不能只靠強制的法律來減少。在中等收入的地方，超聲波檢查是基本的產前程序，能不讓父母們知道孩子的性別。如果政府禁止合法的墮胎，那么人們將采用非法的墮胎，這將冒著母親還有未出世的女兒的生命危險。

　　Far more effective would be to persuade parents that their daughters are worth as much astheir sons. Changing social attitudes is a difficult thing for governments to do; but ensuringthat girls get their fair share of education, and women their fair share of health care, would be astart.

　　說服父母們相信女兒不比兒子差遠比強制性的法律更有效。對于政府而言，改變社會風氣絕非易事，但是確保女孩們能夠得到公平的教育，確保婦女們得到公平的醫療，將是萬里長征的第一步。

　　Indias sex ratio is getting worse. The trend can bereversed.

　　印度的性別比例扭曲越加嚴重，這個趨勢能夠逆轉

　　THE news from Indias 2011 census is almost allheartening. Literacy is up; life expectancy is up;familysize is stabilising. But there is one grim exception.In 2011 India counted only 914 girlsaged six andunder for every 1,000 boys.

　　來自印度2011年的人口調查的消息幾乎都讓人振奮。識字率上升;預期壽命上升;家庭規模穩定。但是有一個例外，很嚴峻。2011年，印度6歲及其以下的兒童中每1000個男孩對應只有914個女孩。

　　Without intervention, just a few more boys would be born than girls. If you compare thenumberof girls actually born to the number that would have been born had a normal sex ratioprevailed,then 600,000 Indian girls go missing every year. This is less distorted than the sexratio in China,but whereas Chinas ratio has stabilised, Indias is widening, and has been fordecades. Sex selection is now invading parts of the country that used not to practise it.

　　在自然情況下，出生的男嬰只比女嬰多一點。如果你按照正常的性別比例比較一下實際出生的和本應該出生的女嬰的數字，你會發現每年有60萬的印度女孩不翼而飛。這個性別比例的扭曲程度雖然比中國輕一點，但是中國的性別比例已經穩定，而印度的還在擴大，且這種狀況已經持續幾十年了。性別選擇正在侵蝕著印度的部分地區，而這些地區以前不曾這樣過。

　　Indias sex ratio shows that gendercide is a feature not just of dictatorship and poverty.UnlikeChina, India is a democracy: there is no one-child policy to blame. Although parts of thecountryare poor, poverty alone does not explain Indias preference for sons. The states withthe worst sex ratiosPunjab, Haryana, Gujaratare among the richest , whichsuggests distorted sex selection will not be corrected just by wealth or government policy. Butit can be corrected.

　　印度的性別比例表明性別滅絕不只是由于專制和貧窮。與中國不同的是，印度是個民主國家，沒有只生一個孩子的計劃生育政策。盡管印度的部分地區很窮，但是僅僅貧窮不能解釋印度對于男孩的青睞。性別比例最扭曲的邦，比如旁遮普邦、哈里亞納邦和古吉拉特邦，都是印度最富有的地區。這表明扭曲的性別選擇將不會由于財富和政府的政策得以糾正。不過，性別比例是可以得到糾正的。

　　Parents choose to abort female fetuses not because they do not want or love their daughters,but because they feel they must have sons ; they also want smallerfamiliesand something has to give. Ultrasound technology ensures that this something is ageneration of unborn daughters, because it lets them know the sex of a fetus. Sex selectiontherefore tends to increase with education and income: wealthier, better educated people aremore likely to want fewer children and can more easily afford the scans.

　　父母選擇墮掉女胎不是因為他們不想要或者不喜歡他們的女兒，而是因為他們覺得必須有兒子;而且他們想要更小的家庭，因此要放棄一些東西。超聲波技術能夠讓父母們知道胎兒的性別，因此確保了他們放棄的是一代未出世的女兒。因為性別選擇隨著教育和收入的增加而趨于流行，所以更富有、受教育更好的人們更有可能要更少的孩子，也能更輕松的負擔檢查的費用。

　　But whereas sex selection may be understandablefor a family, it is disastrous for a nation. It is anextreme expression of an attitude that saysdaughters are worth less than sonsa belief that isdamaging both to women and to the nextgeneration, since healthier, better educated mothershave healthier, better-educated children.

　　然而性別選擇雖然對于單個家庭是可以理解的，但是對整個國家卻是個災難。這是重男輕女的態度的極端表達。因為更健康、受教育更好的母親才能養育更健康、受教育更好的孩子，所以性別選擇對于女性和整個下一代都是有害的。

　　If sex ratios stay the same, 600,000 missing girls this year will become, in 18 years time, over10m missing future brides. Robbery, rape and bride-trafficking tend to increase in any societywith large groups of young single men. And because in China and India men higher up thesocial ladder find wives more easily than those lower down, the social problems ofbachelorhood tend to accumulate like silt among the poorest people and the lowestcastes. This is unjust as well as damaging.

　　如果性別比例還是不變，一年60萬消失的女孩將在18年內變成超過1000萬消失的未來新娘。在任何一個擁有大量單身男性的社會中，搶劫、強奸和買賣新娘都會趨于增加。由于在中國和印度，上層的男性比底層的男性更容易的找到老婆，因此光棍化的社會問題將會越積越多，就像陷入最貧窮的人或者是最低的種姓中一樣難以自拔。這既有害也不公平。

　　Over time, the problem may right itselfas the experience of South Korea, where a sex ratiothat was highly distorted in the 1990s and is now approaching normality, suggests. In India,attitudes are changing. According to the latest census, female literacy, improving generalhealth care, improving female employment rates [are] slowly redefining motherhood fromchildbearing to child rearing. Census 2011 is perhaps an indication that the country hasreached a point of inflection and in the worst-affected areas, sex ratios are becoming lessdistorted. But governments need to hurry the process along.

　　隨著時間流逝，這個問題或許會自我糾正，正如韓國的情況顯示的那樣。韓國在20世紀90年代性別比例極度的扭曲，現在已經接近正常。在印度，重男輕女的態度正在轉變。根據最近的人口調查，女性識字率的提高、改善的普通醫療和升高的女性就業率正在慢慢的重新定義母親的角色，這涉及從分娩到撫養孩子成人的整個過程。2011人口調查或許表明印度已經達到了拐點，在情況最嚴重的地方，性別比例扭曲程度變輕了。但是政府需要加速這個過程。

　　Cherish the girls珍惜女孩

　　India and China, to their credit, are trying to do so. India, for example, bans ultrasound scansfrom being used merely to identify a fetuss sex; it also makes sex-selective abortionsillegal. But gendercide cannot be reduced just by coercive laws. In middle-income places,ultrasound scans are becoming basic prenatal procedures; it is all but impossible to stopparents from getting to know their childs sex. If a government cracks down on legal abortions,families will get illegal onesrisking the life of the mother, as well as that of her unborndaughter.

　　值得贊揚的是，印度和中國都在努力縮小性別差異。例如，印度禁止只是用于分辨胎兒性別的超聲波檢查，還規定選擇性墮胎違法。但是性別滅絕行為不能只靠強制的法律來減少。在中等收入的地方，超聲波檢查是基本的產前程序，能不讓父母們知道孩子的性別。如果政府禁止合法的墮胎，那么人們將采用非法的墮胎，這將冒著母親還有未出世的女兒的生命危險。

　　Far more effective would be to persuade parents that their daughters are worth as much astheir sons. Changing social attitudes is a difficult thing for governments to do; but ensuringthat girls get their fair share of education, and women their fair share of health care, would be astart.

　　說服父母們相信女兒不比兒子差遠比強制性的法律更有效。對于政府而言，改變社會風氣絕非易事，但是確保女孩們能夠得到公平的教育，確保婦女們得到公平的醫療，將是萬里長征的第一步。