What can Europe’s history of gender bias tell us about Asia’s contemporary experience?

ABSTRACT

Discrimination towards females – a trait of regional demography so far deemed unique to Asian countries – has inspired historians to revisit demographic series to look for instances of gender imbalances within Europe. In this paper, we show why a proper appreciation of Europe’s experience of gender discrimination in the past may help us to understand the future of contemporary sex selection throughout Asia. We stress in particular how the demographic discrimination of females appeared to have vanished during the 20^th century from all areas where it was reported earlier. We examine the main factors that may explain the gradual disappearance of the ‘missing girls’ from Europe. We finally discuss the best ways to identify the potential micro- or macro-mechanisms accounting for the transformations observed in Europe, using, in particular, the distinct trajectories of countries in Southeastern Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender bias
• Europe
• Asia
• Demography

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the editors Francisco Beltrán Tapia and Mikolaj Szołtysek for their encouragements and stimulating comments and to the anonymous reviewer for useful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. For most recent illustrations, see papers in this issue of The History of the Family, the book by Hanlon et al. (2022), Beltrán Tapia and Cappelli (2022), and Beneito and Garcia-Gómez (2022).

2. There are of course many local sources describing female infanticide prior to the coming of Europeans. See for instance, Lee (1981) on China.

3. Pravin Visaria’s study in 1971 is considered the first systematic demonstration of how son preference lies at the core of the demographic excess of males observed in India(Visaria 1971).

4. Death registration should ideally serve as the first source to identify the presence of excess female mortality, but corresponding data are limited. See also the discussion in Perner et al. ().

5. For simplicity’s sake, Europe refers in this paper to all European countries excluding the South Caucasus and countries north and east of Albania.

6. See in particular Alkema et al. (2014). The most recent estimates of mortality rates by sex can be found in the 2022 World Population Prospects prepared by the United Nations: https://population.un.org/wpp/.

7. Because of excess male mortality, the gradual reduction of death rates of infants and children tends to favor males and to (slightly) rise the sex ratio of the child population.

8. The systematic statistical evidence on sex imbalances at birth in Southeastern Europe first appeared in a work devoted to Asia (Guilmoto, 2009). It is only during the next decade that work was conducted in Albania, Kosovo, or Montenegro to describe the mechanisms or rationale of gender discrimination in this part of Europe. For example, the discussion of the son preference in Montenegro is extremely recent (Brković, 2021).

9. South Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) provides another counter-example of surviving manifestations of gender discrimination.

10. More precisely, we can talk of the overall absence of sex selection in Europe (and North America) except for diasporic communities from countries such as China, Pakistan, India or Albania where son preference is rife.

11. Patrick Heady (email, 2022) dates the disappearance of the patrilineal/patrilocal system in Carnia (Northeastern Italy) to the 1960s.

12. The three preconditions of prenatal sex selection are low fertility, access to sex selection technology, and son preference. See, Guilmoto (2009).

13. See, however, the discussion by Beltrán Tapia and Gallego-Martínez (2020) based on Spain’s experience. Kaser (2008) offers an insightful historical perspective for the Balkans. Sabean’s perspective on the interaction of kinship change and class formation in 19^th century Europe provides a broader framework for interpreting the gender transition during this period (Sabean, 2007).

14. Female migration and their initial incorporation in the wage economy carried, however, a distinct health burden as illustrated by female mortality in England (Humphries, 1991). See also the discussion in Lynch (2011) and the pioneering study by Tabutin (1978) on the emergence of excess female mortality in Europe during the 19^th century–even if the exact mechanisms of this development (girl neglect, exposure to infectious diseases in urban areas, nutritional status, etc.) are still debated.

15. Montenegro was part of the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro until 2006. Today, almost a third of Montenegro’s population considers themselves ethnic Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church remains the central player in local religious life.

16. Respectively Southern Albania and the Northwest Coastal Greece.