China's Unwanted Girls...?

[Cayla]

I know this question might be a little weird, but I was looking at BBC news yesterday, and it said “China’s Unwanted Girls.” I know that most people in china prefer boys more than girls because, boys are stronger or whatever reason. But why can’t those people just accept that they had a girl? Does it really matter gender? Well, I guess to some people it does but, I am mainly trying to ask, why do people in china want to have boys and not girls? I read that some girls are abandoned in china, because they are a girl. What do boys have that girls don’t have that makes a boy so special? And I’m not trying to judge anybody, I’m just curios.

[JohnBraden]

As far as the question you asked, China has a one child rule and most want a son to carry the family name and also to help the family with income once the parents grow older and cannot work. This is just a general answer....

[lauradee2]

The thing about Chinese culture is that it extends back several thousand years. You are asking a group of people, the largest population on the earth, in fact, to change thousands of years of tradition and culture. I agree they should just accept the girls, but the reality is that they don't right now. Things have changed drastically in China over the past few decades, and more change is certainly going to come, but for right now this is the way they are in relation to females. Things like this take time to change, but eventually it will become inevitable as more women gain more financial power within China that things will change.

[zielony]

In Chinese cities, except for some ultratraditionalists, people treat both sexes absolutely equally. There are exceptions when some traditionalists consider it their responsibility to keep their family surnames on, as girls cannot inherit surnames. But even now, while elder people consider it shameful to change surnames, younger city dwellers are open to the change of surnames, so it's a matter of time for all city dwellers to accept equal sex.
Those unwanted girls mostly are from the poorer rural areas of China. Apart from traditional views and practices, rural people have to do farmwork... You cannot expect girls to do this as well as boys... So in Chinese countryside people generally would like girls to get married easier so that they don't pose financial burden. In richer rural areas, their minds are not opened as well, as it is a tradition for boys to inherit family properties, and not having boys will make you look stupid. You know, like your daughter and his husband's family inherit your family properties and your family's everything is gone... In a word. having only daughters meant that your family and sometimes clan will, disappear... A nightmare for Chinese, whose tradition is to consider family as the utmost important, more important than individuals.
These girls' family simply cannot afford them, they will lead a even harsh living if they stay with their family, who need boys to do farmwork and cannot spare food for the daughters, in this case, girls are either sent away to richer relatives or simply sent to orphange, some irresponsible parents leave them on the highway. This is a bad phenomenon, the govt is calling on equality of sexes all the time, instead of propanganda they can send money to those poor families to make them afford a daughter... Well, things will change, of course.
Anyway, all nationalities have a history of looking down on girls, but as all society evolve women will be more and more equal to men.