BEIJING, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A Chinese official said Wednesday that China's birth ratio of 100 girls to nearly 120 boys was not related to the national family planning policy.
"The normal sex ratio at birth should be in the range between 100:103 and 100:107, but the ratio has reached 100:119.86 in China," said Gu Xiulian, chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation, at a press conference in Beijing.
Gu attributed the imbalance to three factors: a deep-rooted Chinese concept that males are superior to females; the lack of a social security system in rural areas; and the availability of technology to identify the sex of a fetus, Xinhua reported.
Gu said the imbalance was not unique to China, but occurred elsewhere where family planning was not practiced. "Therefore, I should say the phenomenon has nothing to do with our family planning policy," she concluded.
Gu said the Chinese government had taken steps to address the imbalance by promoting gender equality and directing more social resources to girls.
China's family planning policy allows only one child per family. Gu did not address the likelihood that the policy led families to abort girl babies, whom they might have kept had they been allowed to have more than one child.
